Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Regulator

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    This group has seen some attempts at making unarmed combat viable, and a few have even found success. This, however, is the first build on the blog to do so without the aid of looping and/or stacking exploits. This build delivers unarmed combat that is not simply viable, but truly effective and engaging. I complement this with several other tactics, to deliver a dynamic, streamlined experience from start to finish.

    This would not have been possible without a TON of fantastic research and analysis by James. His efforts in the Tips & Tricks group have been nothing short of phenomenal, and much of his work directly inspired this build.

     

    THE REGULATOR

    Regulators are elite Khajiit guards of the sovereign city of Rimmen. Trained by veterans of the city’s gladiator team and masters from local Khajiiti temples, the Regulators are unparalleled in hand-to-hand combat, archery, and alchemy. Some say the most skilled Regulators possess traces of the legendary Voice of the Mane.

    After hearing reports of Skyrim’s Khajiit trade caravans siphoning large quantities of moon sugar from Rimmen’s sugarcane shipments, the city dispatches a master Regulator to investigate. And thus, our story begins….

     

    Race » Khajiit

    Stone » The Lord

    Major Skills » Alchemy, Archery

    Minor Skills » Conjuration, Heavy Armor, Block

    Attributes » Health / 1 Stamina / 0 Magicka

    Essential Shout » Marked for Death

     

    Note that acquiring the Ring of the Beast will require you to side with the Volkihar. Cure your vampirism ASAP, as it is not a part of roleplay/gameplay!

    If you'd rather focus on defense than offense, Ahzidal's Helmet is a fine alternative. I find most helms look rather silly on Khajiit characters, so I wore the circlet when I played on Xbox. On PC, I used the Helmet Toggle mod to gain the effects of Ahzidal's Helm without having to see it on my toon.

     

    THE BUILD

    Thanks to James’s research, this build brings several awesome new methods to the table, allowing a couple of normally weak/unorthodox play styles to shine.

    To get things started, Faendal can train you up to level 50 Archery for free. Grab the Gloves of the Pugilist next, and pick up a crossbow and steel bolts from Fort Dawnguard — that will serve you well until you can summon a Bound Bow. Grab a set of Ancient Nord armor from the ghost outside of Kjenstag Ruins any night, to get the right aesthetic prior to acquiring Ahzidal's set.

     

    A STERLING ARCHER

    The Bound Bow is ideal for several reasons:

    • Being zero-weight, it affords quicker drawing and firing.
    • You never need to stockpile arrows.
    • It has the highest base damage of any bow in the game.

    When you pick up the Ring of the Beast, grab the Ring of the Erudite as well: It will allow you to conjure the Bound Bow without investing attribute points in Magicka in the early game, before you pick up the Adept Conjuration perk. Once you obtain that perk, you can summon the bow with less than 100 Magicka, at which point you should abandon the Ring of the Erudite.

    At 100 Archery and with all relevant perks, the Bound Bow will do roughly 125 damage per shot. And for the sadists out there, this build has several means of taking that power even further — several times that much damage per shot!

    Bow bashes can be quicker and more accurate than arrows in close quarters. Bashing induces stagger, giving you time to switch to unarmed or apply a poison. With Deadly Bash, the Mystic Bound Bow does a solid 30 bash damage. And as with archery, this value can be easily augmented several times over, such that a single bash can kill many lesser opponents.

     

    UNARMED & DANGEROUS

    Allowing for variations in your choice of gauntlets, the Regulator has a respectable base Unarmed damage (mine was 65, with Daedric gauntlets). But respectable isn't enough; we want our enemies to be pissing themselves with fear. Consequently, the Regulator's true badassery lies in the fact that this base unarmed value increases by nearly 6 points (9% × 65 = 5.85) for every second that Marked for Death is active! Furthermore, he can instantly double his unarmed damage — including that per second Marked for Death bonus — by drinking a simple potion: the custom brew The Beast Within, described below.

    That +9% damage per second bonus, and the 2x damage potion multiplier, also apply to bashes and fired arrows, as explained below.

     

     

    POTENT POTABLES

    Through dedicated training in the noble sciences of herblore and alchemy, the Regulator is able to brew some truly incredible potions. All calculations listed below assume +66% Fortify Alchemy from worn gear. I suggest using Muiri’s Ring and any three items of Major Alchemy. If you don't want to join the Dark Brotherhood, the Ring of Pure Mixtures is your next best bet, along with one standard Alchemy item, one Major Alchemy item, and one Extreme Alchemy item.

    The Beast Within

    Effect » Double physical damage for 60 seconds (arrows, bashes, and claws)

    Requires » Canis Root & Juniper Berries

    Argument » 2x damage from all arrows, bashes, and unarmed attacks. On top of all that, you can grow both ingredients in your Hearthfire home, allowing bulk harvesting quickly and easily. Did someone say “synergy”?

     

    Tonic of Rimmen 

    Effect » Fortify Health by 100 points for 60 seconds, Restore 156 Health

    Requires » Blue Mountain Flower & Wheat

    Argument » This is a simple potion to make, but very useful, since the Regulator uses neither Smithing nor Enchanting to compensate for an average armor set. The Lord helps to mitigate some damage, but you’ll still need to heal sometimes.

     

    ON YOUR MARK

    By now, many blog members know that Marked for Death lowers enemy AR by 75 points per second. You may also be aware that this continues to have an effect into the negatives. But I think a lot of people still write off this Shout, thinking that it takes too long to show any “significant effect”.

    Well, this is the wrong way to look at it. To quote James: “If there was a shout that made the base strength of your weapons increase by 5% every second … who here wouldn't use that all the time?” And that’s the right way of looking at Marked for Death. Because that’s essentially what it does — except it’s actually +9% per second!

    If you are interested in learning more about Marked for Death, check out this discussion by James for a comprehensive breakdown of this Shout’s uses and how they apply to this build.

     

    Level 35 perk spread. Click to embiggen.

     

    ROLEPLAYING NOTES

    As your character develops, you simulate the training/development of a Regulator as he would have experienced back in Rimmen. Progression is fairly natural as you unlock better heavy gear. Ahzidal’s armor may not be the most powerful, but it’s solid enough, it looks awesome on the Regulator, and it has a useful effect.

    Around town, it is best to avoid dealing with the local riffraff. Many Nords harbor distrust of Khajiit, and you are not in Skyrim to cause any disputes. It is probably best therefore to avoid the Civil War line. Instead, focus more on gathering intelligence on the Khajiit caravans, and on simply exploring Skyrim as you hone your skills.

    In the endgame, you may decide that your investigation has come to a head, and you can decide whether the caravans are guilty or innocent — and how you deal with them. Whether you are lawful or chaotic, honorable or corrupt, is up to you. I like to imagine that apart from protecting the city of Rimmen and its representatives, the Regulators would have a fairly lax sense of morality … Mine was not above a few crimes here and there if it aided him on his mission.

     

    CLOSING COMMENTS

    Again, I want to stress that James deserves the bulk of the credit on this one. All the core gameplay mechanics of this build came directly from his discoveries documented in the Tips & Tricks group. If you learned anything at all from reading this build, you owe it to yourself to read his material there.

    Also be aware that keeping the [inactive] Bound Bow spell in one hand may disable unarmed killcams. So if you're more interested in those sweet, sweet death blows, go ahead and hotkey the Bound Bow spell so you can easily toggle its presence in your hand as desired.

     

    Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

     

  • Member
    November 28, 2013
    A boss Khajiit unarmed/classic ES monk class from one of my favorite builders on Thanksgiving?! Can't get much better than that! Absolutely fantastic use of the MFD shout discussion and I just love the overall aesthetic and presentation. The inclusion of BB is icing on the cake, giving it a reimagined Oblivion Monk class.
  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Cheers, Henson! 

    Ahzidal's armor looks truly badass on a khajiit. I've been wanting to use that set ever since seeing this promo image, before Skyrim ever even came out! I thought about approaching Zimbu for some screenshots before putting this out, but it seems like he has a lot on his plate with other requests. Might talk to him at some point and add them in if he's willing.

    I talked a bit with James about the build and how it compared to his gameplay while testing MFD, DV, unarmed, bashing, etc. I thought about including DV in this build, but I ultimately preferred the streamlined feel from never switching Shouts or equipment. I basically went through every dungeon with MFD active and a stack of Fortify Archery potions hotkeyed, with the Bound Bow ready to be summoned in the left hand, and an open claw on the right. Mostly used the BB to begin fights from a distance, then removed it to finish off anyone still standing with unarmed attacks. It's a bit simple, but endlessly awesome to experience. Between arrows, bashing, and claws, gameplay never gets stale or stagnant.

    James also pointed out a useful tip: if you hotkey a torch, you can double-tap the hotkey to quickly decast your bound bow and be ready to swing right away.

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Awesome Build, first of all.

    I love the roleplay aspect of it, and the gameplay mechanics, too. A few things I'd ask, out of pure curiosity:

    1.) Why only 1/3 Critical Shot? Is it's because it's mainly unarmed, I suppose?

    2.) Why perk Shield Wall? I haven't seen any mention of shields. I understand the Power Bash etc., since it is used by bows when bashing. Is it the same with Shield Wall somehow?

    3.) Where did you find the first artwork pic? I really do like it, and wondered if you still have a link (I understand if you don't want to share it too though! )

    4.) Why did you not perk Conjuration more? I understand it's probably purely because of the Bound Bow, but I'd have gone a little further with it, personally; Some conjures would work masterfully alongside the badassery of the build mechanics anyway.

    Awesome build, truly! A definite +1. Now we just wait for Mason's! He's usually not long after your builds are posted, right?

    Love this build!

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    Nice work on this one Teccam! I'll have to try this out sometime. I love the synergy with Marked for Death and the Marksman potions.

  • Member
    November 28, 2013
    Teccam! This build is absolutely wonderful lol. I love it. Like Henson said badass unarmed khajiit? Hell yes. First off, I love khajiits, the use of MFD and unarmed is a really cool idea and I love the backstory/lore. Plus it's cool too see bound bow used. I had the first picture as my profile picture for a little while too :P Anyways great build. Expected nothing less for a build from you Teccam!
  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    1. I only picked up the first level of Critical Shot to get up to Ranger. It's not really enough of a difference to pick up the other two levels IMO. James touched on this in his discussion on critical damage in T&T.

    2. That actually should probably be changed. It's a relic of a previous version of the build where I was tinkering with that exploit that lets you block with a bow. Didn't end up keeping that in the final build, but honestly I just forgot to reallocate those perks. I'll take care of that ASAP, good catch.

    3. It's on DeviantArt, here. By Bakirasan.

    4. A few reasons. First off, I'm using summons in my next build, which I put on hold to develop this one. Wanted a change of pace. Also, combat here is so fast-paced that using a minion would probably only slow things down. And as I mentioned in my reply to Henson, I was consciously trying to make gameplay as streamlined as possible, avoiding using the inventory and even favorites menu. Adding summons to the mix would have gone against that. But you can absolutely incorporate them if you play this one! (Maybe a good place to substitute those Shield Wall perks.)

  • November 28, 2013

    Aww, congrats mate! It's about time someone dropped a true monk build...good implementation of the MFD shout...

    Out of interest I'm going to cue you in on a message that I sent to Snakes back in May regarding monk builds, the finished 'Master Monk' product obviously wasn't like this but some of my old thoughts may still help...

    "I've actually spent a fair amount of time thinking about a monk build. The problem EVERYONE has when they make an unarmed build is they gravitate towards the crafting skills to try and make the character type more viable, by the time they finish grinding they may as well shove an enchant on a dagger and just stab something with it...

    People need to sit back and think of other ways they can make the class work while keeping it interesting and fun with less crafting and reliance on item strength...

    Like an archer, a monk needs a little more time and space in order to do well, you don't want to go down the line of the classic boring monk that picks herbs and heals people, creativity often calls for a character with less morals...

    You need to gather a few things together and then refine them...

    • A Khajiit
    • A way of maximising damage without grinding ----> Marked for Death (straight up, just using this will save you a massive headache)
    • A way of controlling big crowds (the obvious choice is illusion but that's a little predictable, I'd go with ice or ash spells to cull the heard)
    • A good defensive strategy, I'd possibly work with restoration AND alchemy so that I have two ways to heal.
    • An 'Oh, shit' button ---> Yeah, you're going to want one of these..."

    What's really funny is that I'm only a day off dropping my own build Teccam, me and you seem to be linked in our build making activities...

  • Member
    November 28, 2013

    "I'm only a day off dropping my own build"

    Just made my day.

  • Member
    November 28, 2013
    Thanksgiving. The day I give thanks for Mason dropping his build tomorrow! Hooray