This character build is my personal take on the Paladin class of the MMO “World of Warcraft”, especially from the Blood Elf lore, the Blood Knight. The main idea came up when I saw the painting (below) on Deviantart. The moment I saw it, I came up with the lore behind this build, what armor/weapons to use and how the playstyle should be. Yet I didn’t pick the name Blood Knight, because I thought that the character didn’t fit quite in the Blood family of builds like the Blood Mage or my own Blood Archer. Aurora is the name of the roman deity of the dawn. This character build focuses around fire spells and the sword ‘Dawnbreaker’ so the name Aurora Knight will fit much better. After this long introduction I finally present you…

The Aurora Knight

 

"... the defenders of Alinor’, the faithful servants of Meridia, and the true masters of the Light."

- Knight-Lady Aenea Dawnrose

 

Lore:

The Aurora Knights are an ancient High Elf Order of heavy-armored, holy warriors worshiping ‘the Light’ and fighting against any evil menacing their faith or the freedom of their home country, Alinor’ (Summerset Isles). In the last Centuries, their existence was menaced by the authority-seeking Thalmor, but Meridia blessed the Order and kept them strong in their struggle against their foes.

 

 

In battle they use the classic combination of sword and shield, but they also wield a two-handed sword for heavy and powerful strikes. As far as magic goes, they are gifted in 3 magic schools: Restoration, Destruction and Conjuration. This gives them a significant advantage on the battlefield: they can tank, heal themselves and summon Atronachs to tank for them while they control the battlefield with destruction spells or support their follower with cure spells.

Their patron is the Daedra Lord Meridia. The Aurora Knights fight in her name and bring her cleansing light into the darkness. She blesses the knights with her light and gives them her holy artifact, Dawnbreaker.

 

The Build

 The concept behind this build is to go beyond the idea of a simple Paladin. The Conjuration school makes the Aurora Knight more dynamic and gives him the possibility to heal while his summons take care of the enemies. However the Aurora Knight will never use necromancy, as Meridia strictly forbids any kind of undead magic. The switch between one-handed and two-handed swords will give him the possibility to manage any situation i.e. a group of enemies, dragons, mages... The playthrough will take you through the main game and the two DLCs, Dawnguard and Dragonborn, combining various weapons, reducing crafting time and starting early with the fun.

 

 

Race: High Elf

Obviously. This race is the closest to the Blood Elves of WoW. With their ‘Highborn’ ability to regenerate Magicka faster for a short time and their starting bonus of +50 Magicka, they are perfect for this kind of paladin.

Standing Stone: ‘The Warrior Stone’ to begin with, later The Lord Stone which provides 50 additional points of damage resistance and +25% magic resistance. In combination with the Aetherial Crown and the Atronach Stone, this build will have good defensive qualities against any magic casters.

Stats: High Elves start with 50 extra Magica, so a 0/3/2 spread is good. You will need a lot of health and stamina to survive in heavy battles against dragons, dragon priests and Draugr Deathlords. Putting any points in Magicka is really not necessary because of the gear and enchantments later in the game.

Dragon Shouts: Fire Breath, Unrelenting Force, Drain Vitality, and Marked for death    

Major Skills: One-Handed, Destruction, Restoration, Block

Minor Skills: Heavy Armor, Two-Handed, Conjuration, Smithing, Enchanting

 

Equipment:

• Head Mage’s Circlet + 70 magicka (if obtained at level 25+) or Aetherial Crown with the                         Atronach Stone.
• Body  Daedric Armor: Fortify Health regeneration
• Hands Daedric Gauntlets : Fortify Block
• Feet Daedric Boots: Fortify Stamina Regeneration
• Ring/Amulet +Magicka or Ahzidal's Ring of Arcana for the 'Ignite' spell/Gauldur Amulet (+30                               Magicka +30 Health +30 Stamina) or Savos Aren’s Amulet - +50 Magicka
• Shield Daedric Shield: Fortify Magic resistance

Despite the normal connotation of Daedric armor in Tamriel, the Aurora Knights prefer this armor not just for its strength or their daedric lord, but because of the colors and the meaning to them. Despite fighting for the light, they prefer darker colors, preferably black, accented by red. The dark represents the endless night of evil that hangs over Tamriel, the very force the Auror Knights strive to vanquish, and the color serves as a constant reminder of their mission. The red represents the fire of the light they carry forth into battle that will help vanquish the evil; small at first, it will grow and one day be victorious. (Credits to xDark Ace for this very good explanation why Daedric armor fits the Aurora Knight perfectly)

Weapons:

• Dawnbreaker
• Bloodskal Blade- energy blasts of 30 damage & chance to stagger the opponent,
• Aurora Blade (any sword, I preferred the Nordic sword lookwise, enchanted with Absorb Magicka and Fire Damage/Fiery Soul Trap for leveling Enchanting)

With the High Elf race (+50), the Mage’s Circlet (+70) and Savos Aren’s Amulet (+50), you will have 170 Extra Magicka without putting one Stat point in Magicka! With base Magicka: 270! Can be even more augmented with a ring of Magicka!

 

Skills and Perks

Level 50 Perk Spread

One-Handed: Your weapon of choice is the holy artifact, Dawnbreaker. This sword deals a good amount of fire damage to undead enemies with a chance of an explosion that makes every undead in range flee. We will take here the complete Armsman perk and move up to Savage Strike.

 

Destruction: We have a large range of destruction spells but we will focus on the Fire spells. They reflect the Aurora Knight’s faith in Meridia. Flame Cloak and Fire Bolt are amongst the ones we will use the most. There is no need to go up to Master or take the dual-casting perk because the Aurora Knight will always use a sword as primary weapon. For more powerful spells like Fire Storm, he will use (free) scrolls.

 

 

 

Heavy Armor: Most of the time, the Aurora Knight is directly engaged in a battle. The Daedric armor will give him the right look and protection. Along the heavy armor he will use an enforcing circlet. Only the Juggernaut perks will be taken.

 

 

Restoration: Restoration spells will come in handy when your health goes down and changing in battle to a restoration spell will make you independent of healing potions. Respite, Regeneration and Recovery are essential as they speed up the regeneration of magicka, health and staminda or fortify the cure spells.

 

Block: In face-to-face combat your shield will prevent you from greater damage. Blocking incoming spells and arrows or bashing an enemy in midst of an attack will give you a certain advantage.

 

 

Two-Handed: This is where the Aurora Knight is different from other builds. Along OH weapons you will use TH weapons too. The Aurora Knight uses the Bloodskal Blade.       This Greatsword deals additionaly to the strike damage an energy blast of 30 damage out. Here we move up to Devastating Blow. It’s all about standing your ground.

 

 

 

Conjuration: Summoning Fire Atronachs to support you with their distance spells will come in handy when fighting dragons.

 

Smithing: Daedric Armor fits the task to protect efficiently.It takes some time but it is totally worth it. Up to Daedric smithing and Arcane Blacksmithing. 

 

 

Enchanting: Enchanting the Daedric armor to suit your needs. Goes up to Corpus Enchanter to benefit from the Fortify enchants.

 

 

Spells:

Conjure Fire Atronach

Flame Cloak

Fire Bolt

Ignite

Fast Healing

Grand Healing

Stendarr's Aura (Cloak spell; deals 10 sun damage DPS; available in the Dawnguard Fort)

 

Quests: Essential quests are the following; they give you either the gear you will need or fit the role play of the Aurora Knight.

Main Quest: Skyrim is in danger and the Aurora Knight will defend the people

Dawnguard Main Quest: Evil vampires want to destroy the Sun and create an eternal darkness? Not with the Aurora Knight! Side with the Dawnguard obviously. Cool reward: Every knight needs a horse, the summonable horse Arvak looks awesome and is free.

Dragonborn Main Quest: Again a dark menace wants to conquer the world.The Aurora Knight knows what to do.

Break of Dawn: Serving Meridia and Dawnbreaker Sword

College Of Winterhold: Mage’s Circlet (obtained after Level 25: +70 Magicka)

Forbidden Legend: The Gauldur Amulet (+ 30 Magicka, + 30 Health, + 30 Stamina)

The Final Descent:  Bloodskal Blade (Two-handed sword)

Unearthed: Ahzidal's Ring of Arcana      

Destroy the Dark Brotherhood

Bolstering The Ranks: (Dawnguard Side Quest) able to buy Stendarr's Aura

 

 

“Mortals call it Dawnbreaker, for it was forged in a holy light that breaks upon my foes, burning away corruption and false life.”-Meridia

 

Role playing:

The Aurora Knight is a good character, yet he knows when to obey the laws and when not.It is an honor to serve the Jarls of Skyrim and be named Thane of the holds.The Thalmor are the enemy of Meridia and his Order. Whenever the Aurora Knight finds a group of Thalmor, he will fight them.

Right in the beginning, the Aurora Knight has the ‘Initiate’-rank. He needs to prove himself of being a knight of the Order. The next task of the Aurora Knight is to reach the ‘Adept-Knight’-rank (Level 12). He is now able to serve Meridia and he will seek the Statue of Meridia to fulfill his task. With the conquering of the Dawnbreaker, the next task is to serve the Jarls of Skyrim and join the College of Winterhold, to gain knowledge of the arcane powers. When reaching Level 20, the Aurora Knight will be named ‘Knight-Master’. There are now many challenges to master such as cleansing ruins of Draugr, fighting Dragonpriests and saving Skyrim from Alduin, defeating the vampire and Miraak menace. He will also start the training with two-handed swords, smithing and enchanting. On level 50, the Aurora Knight will reach the rank of Knight-Lord/Lady. His weapon art is near perfection and his armor is fully crafted and boosted.

 

 

 

Gameplay and Tactics

 

The Aurora Knight is a dynamic character in terms of fighting enemies. He can quickly switch between sword and shield, sword and spell or two-handed sword depending on the foe he is fighting. He will begin the fight by summoning a fire atronach and casting a Flame Cloak spell on himself for added DPS for close-range enemies. The fire atronach will constantly fire spells on the enemies while the Aurora Knight slashes with his sword and shield. The Bloodskal Blade is good for fighting Dragonpriests at range, with the energy blasts or slashing Dragons as soon as they are hit with Dragonrend. The enchanted Nordic Sword is best for hitting and weakening mages.

 

Special Moves

Touch of Meridia: Marked for death + Flame Cloak + Dawnbreaker - The undead enemy will be weakened and with the effect of Dawnbreaker activated, your enemies will flee burning and in terror.

Ancient Light: High Born ability + Flame Cloak + Fire Storm scroll - You engulf yourself in fire and read aloud the words from an ancient scroll, blessed by Meridia’s light to regenerate Magicka faster.(you will regenerate Magicka faster after the spell is released)

Focused energy: Drain Vitality + Bloodskal Blade - The life force of your foes are diminished while you strike with powerful energy blasts right through their heart.

 

"Face to face...even on the edge of life...if I die, Meridia be my guard for my death will not be in vain"

- Knight-Lady Aenea Dawnrose

So this is the Aurora Knight. I hope you enjoyed reading through and perhaps try it out some time. Credit goes out to the artist TsunamiXD for the inspiring and wonderful drawn image of a Blood Knight. The screenshots were all taken by me except the ‘statue of meridia’ is from uesp.net.

Thank you for reading it and as always any commentary is gladly welcomed.  

If you enjoyed reading this build please check out my other builds:

 

 

 

This is pretty sweet. I'm liking the lore and the choice of weapons. You don't see many builds use the bloodskal sword.

Thanks :) I thought this too.The blade on the first picture just screames 'Bloodskal Blade' . Too bad it is only a two-handed sword.

Would be cool if you added armor sets to complement ranks(like if you are aprentice you should use/find X armor) just to get the advancement feeling. Or just plain what armor should I use before Daedric(it's a real long way there without glitches/exploits)

Always thought the Bloodskal Blade looked awesome. This gives me another reason to use it. Gonna try this build ASAP!

Thank you for your comments. It's appreciated. Well you can use what ever heavy armor you find and move up with the smithing perks as soon as you have all the material for the new type of armor, because it depends on how soon you advance with the smithing perks and are able to create the new armor. But the Daedric armor is totally worth it ;)

Hahaha that's cool :) Yeah, it's a really crazy but powerful combination. Now I'm eager to read your build too  BTW this was my first playthrough with an Altmer. Ever. Never liked to be a pure mage with them, but as Paladin I like them.

Very interesting build! Lots of skills, but I love balancing many skills with a character, it makes leveling fast and interesting. How would this character hold up without the block? It seems like I would prefer to spellsword it up then switch between one handed +spell, two handed, AND one handed + shield. The bloodskaal blade is an excellent addition though, have you toyed around with aura whisper and the blades energy effect? Big +1, keep up the good work!

Thanks for the kind words. It's really appreciated :) I used the shield when it was necessary and with the right perks ie. against archers to deflect arrows, later with the atronach stone and magic block perk against mages, mainly when entering a battle. Then I switched to a spell (cojure flame atronach or flame cloak) and back to the shield to block incoming bashes. Two-handed is good for groups of enemies to have powerful strikes and hit many targets.

I love the Bloodskal blade. When I first did the quest to explore the mine where you find it, I was just amazed because I didn't expect it to throw energyblasts around ^^ Is there any connection between aura whisper and the bloodskal blade? I haven't got this shout on this specific character but I could test it on another character. 

Become Ethereal= any power attacks cost no stamina if you hit something it dispels the immunity effect Bloodskal Blade= Launches energy blasts whith power attacks As long as you don't hit anyone with the blade you can spam free energy blasts as long as Become ethereal is up