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Character Build: Dibella's Beautiful Blade

Tags: #Character Build Spellsword  #Character Build Unarmored  #Character Build Hero  #Rank:Mythic  #ShinJin Build 
  • Member
    August 25, 2014

    The Sybil has spoken… the daedric princes have gained their footholds in Skyrim, and evil spreads unchecked as a result. But just as a surgeon cuts away sickness, so too would Dibella have evil removed. She is aware of your unique abilities, has seen you cut a path of beauty through Broken Tower Redoubt—you will continue to cut the contagion away, but this time at its source… the daedra! Fear not, for you are Dibella’s chosen instrument. You are Dibella’s Beautiful Blade.

    —Hamal

    I have been looking for an excuse for quite a while to try my hand at a no-armor, no-Alteration build, and creating a champion of Dibella was the perfect opportunity to do it. The idea seemed to call for a kind of beautiful (but fragile) deadliness… and deadly is exactly what she is. A combination of super-high stamina reserves, perks in Two-handed and Block, and strategic use of the Slow Time shout make the Beautiful Blade bad news for anything that threatens the lovely and the good. But that’s only the beginning.

    The sudden manifestation of Dibella’s champion can incite a frenzied lust, calm a murderous soul, or even cause the most cool and collected of foes to stammer and flee. Illusion fits the roleplay perfectly, but I also wanted it to be a crucial part of combat and gameplay as well. This one question, then, became my overarching concern: how do you make a powerful Illusionist/Blademaster vulnerable enough for it to be challenging and fun to play?

    First, I went back to my roots and decided to fight my own battles (read this as ‘no follower’). You must rely solely on your ability to use your skills and surroundings effectively. Ultimately it boils down to this: Dibella chose you as champion, not “Champion and guest.” Secondly, I opted to put all my points into Stamina and Magicka… when you take a hit with this build you feel it. Running around at 100 Health with no armor or Alteration spells means you’ve got to be hyper-alert to your surroundings, play smart, and constantly be moving in combat if you want to stay alive. I have to say, it’s been an absolute blast to play!

    While an appreciation of aesthetic beauty is always desirable, an understanding of spiritual beauty—that a thing is truly beautiful not because it LOOKS good, but because it IS good—is crucial. There are few (even among us) who comprehend this one simple truth... the purest worship of Dibella, ultimately, is a worship of the good...

     

     Race

    • Altmer—this was my choice, and I’ve really come to appreciate this race over the last month or so: the +50 to magicka as a passive ability and Fury spell right from square one are insanely helpful (and the extra magicka lets you drop even more points into Stamina). +10 to Illusion with additional bonuses to Destruction and Enchanting are enticing incentives as well. Altmer are also the tallest (read this as fastest) race in Skyrim. Since you aren’t burdened with armor, there are few with the ability to keep up with you… or get away when you chase them down. Finally there’s the Highborn power—supercharged magicka regeneration is a lifesaver in early and mid levels against bosses when calm and destruction spells start taking their toll on your magicka reserves
    • Breton—you get a +5 to Illusion and Speech which is decent, but the real draw here is your protection from mages… the 25% Resist Magic and power to absorb 50% spell damage with Dragonskin turns you into the bane of mages everywhere
    • Dunmer—the +10 to Destruction and additional bonus to Illusion are great starts. 50% Resist Fire is also a nice passive ability in a world where so many things are trying to fry you

    ...Conversely, true ugliness has evil at its core. It spreads quickly like a contagion, hoping to overpower the good through sheer numbers and attrition. But true beauty, though seemingly fragile and far less common, has hidden reservoirs of strength to combat the spread of evil… this you have recently discovered.

     

     Stats

    • 1 magicka/0 health/1 stamina—I did this till I hit 300 Magica without any enchants, then dumped everything into stamina forever after… you’re a hard-sprinting, block-rocking, power-attacking whirlwind of death after all

    Stone

    • Lady—while the 25% faster health and stamina regeneration looks great on paper it’s pretty negligible in combat (where you need it). Still, it works well with the roleplay, so it’s what I went for
    • Atronach—an extra 50 points into magicka is pretty sweet, and absorbing 50% spell absorption is a nice defensive bonus.

     Major Skills

    Two-handed

    The glass is sharp for this glass cannon build! Greatswords keep enemies at a respectable distance while dealing out formidable damage. I perked all points in Barbarian. The other key perk for me was Sweep—ridding Nirn of two or three malevolent forces in a single, beautiful swipe is glorious. I perked Warmaster instead of Devastating Blow because I think decapitations are a bit much. If, however, you have no qualms popping tops I would suggest switching out Warmaster for DB instead.

    Block

    Got bad daedra? Shield Charge gives them time to ponder their direction in life

    Quick Reflexes (QR) is Block’s shining star for two important reasons: first, it allows you to entirely avoid an enemy’s power attacks… a total lifesaver for 0 AR builds. Secondly, spamming a single shout of Slow Time (ST) around the end of the QR animation sequence gives you a supercharged version of ST that lasts about a minute and actually outlasts the shout’s cooldown. The effect is game changing (more on this in the Combat section).

    Illusion

    When you’re so squishy, the ability to control the way you do battle is crucial… this is Illusion’s greatest asset. Illusion gives you the ability to have threats attack each other, run for the hills, or just chill for a bit so you take them on singly. Can’t say it enough: control is survivability; Illusion is control.

    Illusion—turning Skyrim’s frenemies into freademies since the 17th of Last Seed, 4E 201

    Minor Skills

    Destruction

    When you want to keep things at a distance (dragons, I’m looking at you) or just soften them up a bit before your dance of death with the blade, destruction works wonders. I felt a champion of Dibella should be passionate, and so opted for the flames path for augmentations and perked  Dual Impact for the reprieve the stagger gives you.

    Destruction leaves these guys breathless

    Enchanting

    Enchanting puts the ‘cannon’ into this glass cannon build. Taking all the Enchanter perks and working your way up to Extra Effect allows you to pile on damage with twice the Fortify Two-handed enchants, increase the effectiveness of your defense with twice the Fortify Block enchants, and ensures that 300 magicka is all you’ll need to cast Illusion and Destruction spells. It’s also a great way to generate revenue… you’ll be cleaning out the local blacksmith’s gold with a single Absorb Health/Banish dagger.

    Speech

    Agents of Dibella are gifted with persuasive skill. Whether it’s an ability to charm with a light laugh, know who wants their purse to feel a bit heavier, or threaten with a divine’s wrath, Dibella’s Beautiful Blade gets people to do things they don’t always want to. I perked Haggling once, and ran all the way up the right side of the Speech tree.

    Endgame Gear

    Endgame gear with enchants are as follows:

    • Ebony Greatsword (Dibella’s Blade)—Fire Damage + Absorb HealthVaermina’s Robes (Dibella’s Blessing)—Fortify Destruction + Fortify Illusion
      • Optional additional Ebony Greatsword (Dibella’s Agony)—Fiery Soul Trap + 1 sec Paralysis
    • Silver Sapphire Circlet (Dibella’s Boon)—Fortify Destruction + Fortify Illusion
    • Malkoran’s Boots (Dibella’s Boots)—Fortify Two-handed + Fortify Sneak
    • Mythic Dawn Gloves (Dibella’s Grasp)—Fortify Two-handed + Fortify Block
    • Ring (Dibella’s Buff)— Fortify Two-handed + Fortify Illusion
    • Necklace (Dibella’s Wrath)—Fortify Two-handed + Magic Resistance (from the Shield of Solitude… nets you 25% resistance as opposed to the standard resistance of 20%)

     

    Perks

    Combat

    With no additional points in Health, it’s all about paring down threats and creating one-on-one scenarios. Fury gets your enemies fighting for you and is a helpful opener; now while they fight amongst themselves you can either start picking away at them with Firebolt, or hop into the fray and start swinging at the toughest one of your enemies. Calm can buy you some time, allows you to duel rather than take on mobs, and gives you the option of taking the first shot in combat.

    Your toughest enemies early on will be mechanical constructs and the undead. Until you perk Master of the Mind your bread-and-butter Illusion spells will do nothing against them—and dragons will always require some finesse. For this reason, make sure to perk the Destruction school’s Dual Casting and Impact early on—that auto-stagger is crazy-helpful and allows you to keep your distance and gain more time. Just remember when you go up against these guys to get your licks in and move, move, move.

    Higher level archers (Draugr Deathlords with ebony bows, I’m looking at you) can help you kick the oxygen habit in a single shot. Become Ethereal is your hero here; it lets you close in on those ranged threats and is a wonderful general purpose time-out from damage. From there, block, bash, and slash at them until they go down.

    Pairing Block’s Quick Reflexes perk and the Slow Time shout together is a bucket full of super-awesome-happy-fun, and turned the way I approach combat on its head. I can’t recall the thread, but I remember Oneness mentioning no longer taking out ranged threats first when using this technique. Instead, draw melee fighters early on into power attacking, bust out the QR/ST chain, and now your ranged threats can only watch helplessly as the whirling tornado of death cuts their friends down, drawing ever and ever closer until they, too, shuffle off their mortal coil. I was typically able to dispatch 2-4 enemies with a single QR/ST chain, and can only say this… if you’ve never chained Quick Reflexes and Slow Time you’re missing out on some serious fun.

    Shield Charge can also be used to great effect when taking on single bosses such as bandit chiefs, or it can be used against mobs to take the toughest enemies out of the action for the moment while you clean up the rabble and minions. With a two-handed weapon it takes some finagling to get a feel for it, but once you get it down it’s a fun little time-out for the bad guys.

    Roleplay

    Two things only will provide protection from the evil you must wade through: first, you must UNDERSTAND. All daedric roads lead to corruption, no matter how benign or benevolent they appear… beware their gifts. You must never use their artifacts after they have been “awarded” to you. Doing so will forge a bond between you and the daedric princes that not even the combined efforts of the Nine could break…

     

    Dibella’s Beautiful Blade fights threats to anything beautiful or good in Skyrim, but in particular takes on the daedric princes. Their power and artifacts either corrupt the people who use them, or draw evil to them. Case in point: Meridia, as far as daedra go, seems pretty benign, but the power of her temple naturally draws Malkoran to it… how many desiccated corpses litter the floors of Kilkreath as a result?

    For that reason, Dibella’s Beautiful Blade tackles the daedric quests in order to confiscate and destroy daedric relics. After getting the artifact, go to the Temple of Dibella’s inner sanctum, take the first available right, turn left, and then store the artifact in that chest. I don’t know if it’s a glitch on my game, but doing so marked the artifacts as stolen… those artifacts now belong to Dibella! If you stay away from the temple long enough, the contents of the chest eventually respawn, and the artifacts you left are destroyed permanently by the power of Dibella.

    Perhaps the greatest struggle in making an aedric champion that hunts down daedric artifacts is that you have to do some pretty jacked up stuff to get them… things that an aedric champion should not be doing. To help me along in the roleplay, I had Dibella’s Beautiful Blade kneel before Dibella’s shrine after destroying each artifact as a cleansing ritual, plus I added two conditions to the roleplay:

    • first, never use any of the artifacts after the daedra award them to you
    • The second element was to take mementos for each daedric artifact that I destroyed as a reminder of the chaos, destruction, and sorrow that follows all who interact with the daedric princes. These I kept with me always as a constant warning and reminder of the inevitable tragedy that awaits those who use dabble with daedric power

    Quests and Mementos

    …Second, you must REMEMBER. Look at the lives destroyed by these princes; take something for every artifact you recover as a reminder. These mementos will help keep you on the path of true beauty—the only path upon which Dibella will be able to reclaim you.

     

    Even if  you follow the two aforementioned principles some of these daedric quests may test your willing suspension of disbelief. The quest I struggled with was The Taste of Death. Killing Brother Verulus, oddly enough, was not an issue for me. He is easily persuaded by thoughts of treasure or bribed for coin, which suggests to me that he could be a corrupt priest. But there is a huge difference between ridding Nirn of a corrupt priest, and eating the brother once you’ve done it. I was finally able to get myself to do it on two conditions:

    • First, I had Eola accompany me as a sacrifice for Boethia’s Calling.
    • Second, I went back and systematically killed every last cannibal that was present at the feast… even the ones I had to hunt down in Markarth.

    If you can’t bring yourself to kill and eat a priest, I understand completely; you can save Verulus and kill Eola and all the cannibals instead and forget about destroying Namira’s Ring.

    I also never bothered to take Nocturnal’s Skeleton Key; it’s a quest item that cannot be dropped, and having it constantly in my inventory and unable to destroy it would have just driven me crazy. If that doesn’t bother you, feel free to take on those Thieves Guild quests.

    The following is a list of important quests for this build. The daedric quests also include their level requirements, artifact to destroy, and the memento I took to keep me on the straight and narrow:

    The Heart of Dibella

    I tackled this first. It’s where it all begins, and it gets you access to the temple of Dibella’s inner sanctum and chest. It also gives you a 10% boost when it comes to wailing on members of the opposite sex

    The Black Star (level 1)

    If you opt to get Namira’s Ring, make sure to side with Nelacar and turn the star black. When you come back to the shrine Aranea will attack you. Killing her ties up all the loose ends. If you can’t bring yourself to get Namira’s Ring, turn the star white, gain Aranea as a friend, and have her follow you for Boethia’s Calling as a sacrifice… loose ends all tied up.

    • Acquisition: Azura’s Star or The Black Star
    • Memento: Malyn Varen’s Grimoire (found by his remains in Ilinalta’s Deep)

    Ill Met by Moonlight (level 1)

    Technically you could take Savior’s Hide and The Ring of Hircine as well to destroy them both, but I couldn’t justify killing the hunters in order to do it

    • Acquisition: Savior’s Hide
    • Memento: J’Kier’s dagger (the wounded hunter in Bloated Man’s Grotto)—I enchanted and renamed it so I wouldn’t accidentally sell it

    The House of Horrors (level 1)

    • Acquisition: Mace of Molag Bal—by the way, you don’t have to use the rusty mace on Logrolf if you don’t want to… you can end it much more quickly with your greatsword
    • Memento: Vigilant Tyranus’ Amulet of Stendarr

    The Taste of Death (level 1)

    • Acquisition: Namira’s Ring
    • Memento: Verulus’ Amulet of Arkay

    The Mind of Madness (level 1)

    This will require you to use the Wabbajack, but since you are in the mind of Pelagius you aren’t really using it… right? If you still think you are feel free to skip this one.

    • Acquisition: the Wabbajack
    • Memento: the fine hat you are wearing when you return… because Sheogorath is mad as a hatter

    Waking Nightmare (level 1)

    • Acquisition: none… simply help Erandur destroy it then and there
    • Memento: Vaermina’s robes

    The Cursed Tribe (level 9)

    • Acquisition: Volendrung
    • Memento: lavender from Malacath’s altar

    A Daedra’s Best Friend (level 10)

    • Acquisition: Masque of Clavicus Vile
    • Memento: Sebastion Lort’s Conjuration skill book, 2920, Hearth Fire, v9 (found on his nightstand)

    The Break of Dawn (level 10)

    • Acquisition: Dawnbreaker
    • Memento: Malkoran’s boots

    The Only Cure (level 12)

    • Acquisition: Spellbreaker
    • Memento: Orchendor’s ring of Destruction

    A Night to Remember (level 14)

    • Acquisition: Sanguine Rose
    • Memento: grab one of the bottles of Alto wine in Dibella’s Temple after Senna chews you out

    Discerning the Transmundane (level 15)

    • Acquisition: The Oghma Infinium… DON’T USE THIS!
    • Memento: Septimus Signus’ book, Rumination on the Elder Scrolls (found on a cupboard against the northeast side of the cave, under the ramp)

    Pieces of the Past (level 20)

    • Acquisition: Mehrune’s Razor
    • Memento: Mythic Dawn Gloves

    The Whispering Door (level 20)

    • Acquisition: The Ebony Blade
    • Memento: the book, Admonition Against Ebony (right next to the Ebony Blade)

    Boethia’s Calling (level 30)

    • Acquisition: The Ebony Mail—you will have to put this on in order to activate Boethia’s dialogue ending the quest. Do not enter sneak mode when you do this… it will activate the mail’s poison cloak and counts as a use. Take it off the second you exit the quest dialogue
    • Memento: a bottle of skooma from the Sacellum of Boethia (in one of the packs near the tents)

     Useful Moves

    An Old Flame—Flame Cloak + Become Ethereal

    It’s a nice way to passively damage enemies (especially ones with a weakness to fire). Just hang out for a bit and let the cloak do its thing while they take swing after ineffective swing. Then take them out just before the end of the shout’s duration. It warms my heart when I do it to frost trolls… I hate those things!

    Truth is Beauty—Quick Reflexes + Slow Time + Shield Charge

    The true beauty here is watching enemies fly slow motion through the air, swatting them like flies,  then looking for the next poor, unfortunate soul.

     Useful Late-level Moves

    Manifestations of Beauty—initiate each of these with Muffle + Invisibility simultaneously (release Muffle slightly before Invisibility), sneak into position amidst your foes, then use one of the following manifestations:

    • Lust—Mayhem + Become Ethereal or Slow Time immediately afterward to avoid damage in the ensuing chaos
    • Fluster—Hysteria + Slow Time (if you want to make chasing them down easier)
    • Love—Harmony; your very own any race/any time version of the Voice of the Emperor power; gone is the Imperial-only “just-once-per-day” nonsense. Now take those baddies down one on one… then do it all over again just as ever-loving soon as you please—because beauty transcends race and never waits 24 hours for anything ;D

    In removing sickness the blade touches the contagion—a process that inherently contaminates it—likewise, the very nature of your task will taint you. But fear not, just as a good surgeon cleans her implements, so too will Dibella cleanse you.

    Hamal

     

    Sorry about the repost; this build was a casualty of ning 3.0 and had to be posted again or go down with the ship... I appreciate your patience ;)

     

    If you enjoy Agents of Dibella, or would just like to have some armor incorporated in a Dibella build, check out Elysium's Order of the Lily for the Factions event. It’s a fantastic build that I felt didn’t get nearly the attention it deserved.

    If, instead, you like the thought of sticking it to the daedric princes by collecting and destroying deadric artifacts, but would rather do it with a smashier build, then Albino's Vigilant of Stendarr should be right up your alley. He tosses those artifacts right into the fires of the Aetherium Forge to rid Nirn of their evil permanently.

    Also, I’d like to thank Lozhar for his willingness to give this build a once-over before posting. His input was insightful, helpful, and appreciated… as always.

    And finally, a massive shout out to Kael, who saved the day and replaced all my broken screenshots with some fantastic ones of his own... unasked for, but profoundly appreciated :D

     

     

  • Member
    August 25, 2014

    And now the links don't work again 

  • Member
    August 25, 2014
    Bryn will be happy once he see that this was reposted :P
    BEAUTIFUL build, Jin (Ha! Sorry for that, but I couldn't resist)
    like I said before, you're an amazing builder (One of my favorites, and one which I had the pleasure to work together in three diferent builds!) the way you blend gameplay and roleplay into a single amazing package is just awesome! +1 :D
  • Member
    August 25, 2014

    I just fixed all the links for the people who aren't me... I'll take care of me tomorrow.

    Freaking links! xD

  • Member
    August 26, 2014

    And you know the same goes right back at you! Thanks again for your thoughts and input on this one... you always make things better :D

    Now I've got to change the links to our builds before the Missus takes over the computer xD

  • Member
    August 26, 2014

    Links should be fixed now :D

    Sorry for the inevitable linkish blunders... I'm taking my stupid one day at a time xD

  • Member
    August 26, 2014
    Still love this build! Liked!
  • Member
    August 26, 2014

    Thanks again, MadHatter! ;D

  • August 26, 2014
    How did I miss this being posted on 3.0 damn you NING! Anyway great build as always mate and the pictures are great, not to mention the pretty cool moves. This is now officially on my playlist for builds (the first of many).
  • Member
    August 26, 2014

    A truly masterful build. I am very glad that I took the time to really read this. The first time around I didn't really read it because that font sits with me wrong (not sure why), and oh boy that was a mistake.