Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Seeker

Tags: #Character Build Warrior  #Character Build Rogue  #Character Build Illusionist  #Rank:Exemplar 
  • Member
    January 28, 2012

    I've finally come up with a new build, this one stemmed from the idea of using daggers with shields and grew from there. So I present:

    The Seeker

    The Seeker is at home in any situation - whether it be sneaking around, battling with magic, or fighting up-close. She uses Light Armor, a shield, various daggers and an arsenal of spells. Using a dagger and shield in close combat allows for quick strikes, able to get in two or 3 attacks between blocking when a sword, axe or mace user would have only gotten in one or two. This in turn allows our main weapon to be used for deadly sneak attacks as well. Another advantage of the dagger is that when performing a power attack, the speed allows you to perform a standard attack at the same time (effectively doing 3x damage). Since they're very light you can carry several around with different enchantments. Using Light Armor and a dagger makes power attacks and sprinting require minimal stamina, which leaves levelups open to large amounts of Magicka. This is used to cast Illusion spells, to improve stealth and cause misdirection, Conjuration spells, for extra damage or distractions (once Conjure Flaming Familiar is acquired), Restoration, for healing and wards, as well as a little bit of Destruction for ranged damage. The Seeker also forges her own armor and weapons, and enchants them. A variety of daggers can be used for different purposes - such as the Blade of Woe, Mehrunes Razor, and custom ones for rarer effects like Fear and Paralysis. I use an Elven Dagger until my smithing allows me to increase the damage of Valdr's Lucky Dagger past that - since 25% chance of dealing double damage amounts to an average 25% increase in damage.

    Being a stealthy Illusion-using build, they can make ideal candidates for vampires, and as a Breton or Dunmer your inherent resistance can counter the fire weakness from being a vampire.

    With a focus on multiple skills any race can make a good Seeker. I use the Lover Stone for +15% skill rate to all skills, but the Atronach and Shadow stones could work for more Magic or Stealth-centric characters. Key shouts include Throw Voice, both Breath attacks, Whirlwind Sprint and Aura Whisper.

    Mounted combat is of very limited utility as the very small reach of daggers will make it quite difficult to hit enemies, and magic cannot be used from horseback.

    RP Notes:As a Seeker you could be in search of certain things - Artifacts such as the Gauldur Amulet, Daedric Artifacts, your destiny as a Dragonborn, or simply treasure - and they can excel in any role.

    Gear: I use the Gauldur Amulet combined with the Diadem of the Savant, one-handed ring and custom Elven Armor. This looks pretty cool and since the Diadem counts as light armor it counts towards Custom Fit.

    Vampirism:This build makes an ideal Necromage Vampire (Necromage buffs every spell cast by you and enchantment targeting you by 25% since the game has now flagged you as undead), using Restoration for Necromage as well as benifiting from both of the Vampire bonuses - Sneak and Illusion. Perhaps the Seeker contracted the disease in an ancient ruin while in search of treasure, was too late to get cured, and now relishes the power it offers.

    Major Skills

    One-Handed - Daggers are our primary melee offense. Perks include Armsman, Fighting Stance and Savage Strike.

    Illusion - Causing misdirection on the battlefield and improving stealth. Key perks are Quiet Casting, Kindred Mage, Animage and necessary expertise perks.

    Conjuration - Depends on how much you plan to rely on it. I'm mainly using it for Conjure Flaming Familiar as good damage and distractions since they can be summoned at very long range.

    Enchanting - Armor and recharging perks. Most of the good weapons are found, such as Mehrunes Razor and Blade of Woe, and you can still make strong weapons without perks.

    Minor Skills

    Sneak - Don't need many perks in this with Illusion. Just Stealth 1 and the sneak attack ones.

    Destruction - I stay on Apprentice spells for maximum magicka:damage ratio. You can specialise in an element of your choice as well.

    Smithing - I went up the Light side of the tree with Arcane Blacksmith.

    Restoration - Only really necessary perks are Novice and Apprentice Restoration, Respite and Regeneration.

    Block - Just up the left side of the tree - with light armor we still have alot of mobility.

    Light Armor - Defense. Mainly just Agile Defender and Custom Fit.

    Alyssa slits the throat of an unwary Witch

     

    Level 25 Build

    200 Magicka | 200 Health | 150 Stamina

    One-Handed: Armsman 3, Fighting Stance

    Block: Shield Wall 1, Deflect Arrows

    Smithing: Steel and Elven Smithing

    Light Armor: Agile Defender 2, Custom Fit

    Sneak: Stealth 1, Backstab, Deadly Aim, Assasin's Blade

    Illusion: Novice, Apprentice Illusion, Kindred Mage, Animage

    Conjuration: Novice, Apprentice Conjuration

    Destruction: Novice, Apprentice Destruction

    Restoration: Novice Restoration, Regeneration

    Demonstration Video

  • January 29, 2012

    Nice idea! I might try this out!

  • Member
    January 29, 2012

    Updated with video!

  • January 31, 2012

    This builds crying out for Vald'r lucky dagger which is attainable at early levels for an illusionist and can be fully smithed with just the one perk in smithing! Nettlebane would be another option for a cool dagger, you need a chunk of ebony to upgrade it but its not effected by the ebony smithing perk which you wont be getting anyway with this build. Both these daggers are useable with elemental fury which in the case of valdirs dagger means some very nasty damage.

    I understand the obvious benifit of running this build with a shield but i think a shield n dagger combo can be clumsy, i'd lose the shield (which would help to level light armor quicker) and always have an illusion or healing spell on the go for fast paced action like the alik'r i made a while back. I think i heard you mention that your having more fun with this build than some of your other creations and i can see why after watching the vid, you have already taken apprentice destruction so you should consider adding runes to the gameplay, tossing out fire runes between melee attacks never gets old...

  • Member
    January 31, 2012

    I find I get hit too much when I'm not using a shield, since the dagger has such little reach I have to dart in and out quickly. Besides, the combat would be far too similar to my Arcane Bladesman... The Elven shield only has 4 weight, so it barely slows me down if any. I find weapon and shield combat more clumsy if anything - with a dagger you've got more opportunity to make more attacks before a perfectly timed block, since the attacks are faster!

    I used Valdr's dagger until I realised that the Elven dagger will do more damage overall - the Valdr's had 9 base damage, while the Elven one had 12 base damage - since Valdr's has 25% chance of doing double damage, which ends up with 25% extra damage over a longer period of time, the Elven one will do more damage more consistently.

    I'm definitely going for runes later on, but I find they use way too much magicka early on to be practical! Should be good though since I haven't done a build yet that really uses runes at all.

  • February 5, 2012
    This build doesn't seem to have a "glaring weakness." I am interested in how this build balances out on higher difficulty settings, like Master. I'd also imagine it takes a bit of effort for this build to slay Ancient and Elder Dragons. I only wish on Skyrim that they used Assassins as Dragon Age 2 does, then this build may reveal some weakness, when faced with smoke traps, poison, and ranged assassination attempts.
  • Member
    February 5, 2012

    I play on Expert most of the time, but to kill high level dragons I think you'd have to rely on stuff like Marked for Death or even Mehrunes Razor (1% chance of instant kill). Repeated shieldbashing can keep the dragon from using its breath attack and you can easily dodge the melee.

    On the assasins, I was a bit let down when in the DB assasin random encounter the assasin just runs straight at you. I agree, the assasins in DA added alot of challenge to certain fights.

  • February 5, 2012

    I love in Dragon Age, the hybrid Duelist and Assassin OMG MAKES ME WANNA PLAY IT RIGHT NOW!

  • April 2, 2012

    Hello Ponty,

    Here is a quote from your build, just so you know what I will be talking about : "Gear: I use the Gauldur Amulet combined with the Diadem of the Savant, one-handed ring and custom Elven Armor."

    I have been reading around the Internet, including on the Elder Scrolls wiki, that daggers were not affected by Fortify One-Handed enchantments. Is this something you've tested with your build? What is your stance on the topic? If the wiki information happens to be true, do you believe it would affect your Seeker build, especially in higher levels?

    I am simply curious because I am building a character similar to your Seeker, and since I admire the quality of your builds , I figured you were an excellent reference. Let me know what your observations / opinions are regarding this topic.

  • Member
    April 2, 2012

    I'm using a mod that fixes that issue, but you could always just get a Stamina enchant instead - basically the ring enchantment was based around something that would allow me to do more damage in melee. And remember the power attack with a dagger is effectively a double attack, so that isn't such a bad idea.