What is up, guys! This is my first build, I must admit I was a bit nervous, mainly because I didn’t know if people would like my ideas… Anyways, here is my full lycanthropy build, enjoy!
A lycanthrope is often depicted as either a barbarian (companion style) or as a hunter (hircine style), however, it has been a while since I don’t see a traditional werewolf, in the style of that rich guy who lives secretly on a mansion hiding his true nature, and that is what this build attempts to achieve.
Lore:
The werewolf was a charismatic merchant who traveled all over Tamriel searching for new stock, and to further increase his influence throughout the empire. Along his way, he deceived, seduced and ultimately manipulated anyone he met to the point where all of his power could be broken the second someone realized what was happening. And eventually, it happened. It doesn’t matter which of his lies was discovered, what mattered was how most of the continent now knew who he really was, pursued by all of those who were once to his service he was stripped of all his riches and forced to flee. His journey took him to Skyrim, the land of nords, where honor is the one true way to greatness.
It was here that the merchant decided to rearrange his life; to do things the way they are meant to be done. He traveled to Whiterun, where he asked to become a member of the companions, when Kodlak Whitemane asked him why he desired to do so he answered; “I have been living a life of deceit, of corruption, and I have come to you to learn about honor”. Vilkas looked at him skeptical; a milk-drinking merchant who could barely lift a sword would never be a companion to him. But Kodlak saw right through his soul, and buried deep within, he discovered the true strength of his spirit.
As time passed, the merchant proved to be an indispensable source of strategy, and the mead hall of Jorrvaskr listened to the stories of his numerous journeys in delight, it was then that Skjor, Aela, Vilkas and Farkas, decided he had become a true companion, and so, made him a member of the circle.
The merchant, who had never felt such power fled from the underforge and wandered aimlessly in fear. Days later, when he was about to starve, he saw a beautiful white stag, still scared of his beast form, he chased the stag with nothing but an iron dagger in hand. When he was finally able to claim his prey, and after slaying it, the spirit of the hunt appeared in the name of Hircine. It was then that the spirit convinced him that lycanthropy was not a curse, but a gift, and it was up to him to use it wisely, he was then granted the ring of Hircine, who named him his champion.
He obeyed, and traveled to Solitude, where he quickly became friends with the townsfolk, using his beast form, he could complete the errands of Jarl Elisif the Fair, to the point that he became the thane of the imperial city, always keeping his true self a secret to everyone but the companions.
Stat Distribution:
1:2:1 Once your Enchanting reaches 100 stop placing points into magicka, as our beast form only benefits from health and stamina.
Equipment:
Apparel: Fine Clothes (fortify alteration + fortify alteration and magicka regen), Circlet (Fortify alteration + Fortify Alchemy), Amulet (Fortify alteration + fortify speechcraft), Ring of Hircine, Gloves (Alchemy), Fine Boots.
Weapons: None!
Stone: Lord
Race: Breton. Magic resistance will persist in beast form, plus, we sport a bonus in speech, alteration, and alchemy, which are our core skills.
Shouts:
Slow Time: Our bread and butter, this shout will allow us to fully channel the transformation, and take minimal damage.
Unrelenting Force: Your feral roar sends enemies flying away as you assume the form of the beast.
Disarm: Watch your enemies drop their weapons as they shiver upon seeing your true form.
Aspect of The Dragon: As all the effects of this shout will persist in beast form it will be a great way to scale into the late game as you will deal more damage with power attacks and you will gain a powerful magic resist and armor bonus.
Marked for Death: Sometimes, you don't need to be stronger, sometimes, all you need is for your enemy to be much weaker.
Skills:
ALL OF THE WEREWOLF PERKS
Alteration: Flesh spells will persist in beast form, making us extremely tanky, paralysis is useful for buying time for transforming and the magic resistance is a great bonus too.
Speech: Mostly for role playing, we want to be able to manipulate NPCs (for a good cause, of course), and since most of the stuff we find while clearing dungeons won’t be useful to us, it is great to be able to sell it at a fair price.
Alchemy: Late game as a werewolf can be challenging, as our damage won’t be that great against the progressively higher tier opponents, alchemy can help us close that gap by buffing us pre-transformation.
Enchanting: Bringing the Alteration costs down by a 90% is achievable with only 3 pieces of equipment, this will be extremely useful when you try to dual cast ebonyflesh or mass paralysis.
Flesh Spells: flesh spells will be our guardian angel in beast form, they will provide us with a persistent armor bonus for 60 seconds (30 for dragonhide), now, the most important thing is to make that armor bonus last, here are some good ways to do so:
- Dual Cast Perk: Dual casting any flesh spell increases the base duration to 3 minutes (real time), and your beast form lasts for 2.5 minutes, meaning that without feeding, a dual cast flesh spell will be able to protect you throughout the whole transformation.
- Stability Perk: The perk "Stability" will become available at level 70, this will boost the duration of alteration spells (and the Slow Time Shout) by 50%, meaning dual cast flesh spells will now last for 4.5 minutes!
- Potions: We will be training alchemy as one of our skills... Use it! Alteration potions will make all Alteration spells cast within 60 seconds last longer, ranging from 20% to 100%. At 100% increased duration and combined with our perks standard spells will last for up to 9 minutes!
Another important subject is how strong the armor bonus is. So lets calculate that:
Ebonyflesh: this will be our goal, to obtain ebonyflesh. Without any aid, this spell will grant us 100 armor.
Mage Armor: wearing all clothes is not only for role playing, the mage armor perk will increase the armor rating granted by fleshpells if we aren't wearing any sorts of armor. With all 3 skillpoints invested in Mage Armor, we will get 4 times the armor rating. Oh, look! Ebonyflesh now gives us 400 bonus armor.
Lord Stone: In adition to the our existent resistance to magic (25% breton bonus + 30% magic resistance perk) the Lord Stone will throw in an extra 25%, allowing us to reach the cap. Also, it will help us out with 50 points of armor rating for a total of 450
Aspect of the Dragon: When you feel like this shout is necessary, use it, as it will multiply our armor rating by 1.25, this means that our 450 armor will become 562.5, leaving us extremely close to the cap.
Gameplay:
Your objective as the werewolf is simple; lycanthropy is your main and only source of damage, however, transforming takes some time, this is where or human skills and shouts come in handy. When it comes to role playing, you will have to remember the fact that only the members of The Circle know about your werewolf powers, this means you must not transform in public. Another aspect you have to remember is your charisma; do what you can to make people like you, the high speech level will help you here. Because you are in some sort of quest to become a honorable person and someone of service for Skyrim, it would be wise to destroy the dark brotherhood, and do NOT join the thieves guild. The Bards College is a great option to level up your speech and to make you recognizable among the citizens of Solitude.
Now let's focus on fighting techniques:
-When enemies have already detected you and are surrounding you, you have three options:
1. Use slow time, then cast mass paralysis, flesh spell and transform. This will give you the feeling that enemies have paralyzed on fear upon seeing your transformation. Note that this trick requires a master spell, so for a long time, you will have to settle with less powerful paralysis methods.
2. Use Unrelenting Force to give you some space and then go play seek.
3. Disarm will be extremely useful as it will drastically reduce the damage you will take while transforming and will make it easy to take targets one by one.
-When a boss fight is coming:
1. Use Dragon Aspect into your flesh spell and transform, the effects of Dragon aspect will persist, making you extremely powerful.
2. Use Marked For Death to weaken the opponent and charge! A weakened enemy is obviously much easier to take.
-Utility:
1. Clairvoyance can work as an improved sense of smell while in human form, allowing you to more effectively hunt down your targets.
2. Use Detect Life to mimic your beast-like senses and gain intelligence on an area, this way you might be able to save a shout for later instead of being forced to use it to transform.
Fighting as A Werewolf: You are no lesser werewolf, this means your intelligence is intact while in the beast form. Here's a few strategies for when you have already assumed your true form, because being a werewolf doesn't mean you need no tactics! One of the most known tricks as a werewolf it your sprinting power attack; when you attack while sprinting, your character will lunge towards your cursor dealing 3x damage and knocking targets down, this is extremely useful against heavy targets (giants, trolls, etc.). Another cool trick is your side power attack, this will toss enemies away, giving you a very useful window of time. Finally, we have our howls and the totems of Hircine, which will give us the ability to detect life, summon spectral wolves to help us out, and fear opponents away, now, let's check out some combos for these abilities:
Playing Fetch: Most of the time, you will want to use your howl to fear people away and then pounce on them with your sprint attack, this is extremely simple and powerful. You can add the Summon Wolves power to help you out pick up targets with ease.
Against Undead: Undead will resist the fear from your howl, this means you will need to find another way to make yourself some space to sprint. This is where the Totem of the Hunt comes in handy and allows us to scout the area to know where enemies are and being able to sprint towards them. Of course, there are scenarios where you don't get the opportunity to gain intelligence on the zone, in this situations, what I like to do is quickly identify the biggest threat in the group (Draugr Overlord, Vampire Master, etc.) and flung it away with a side power attack, then, by conjuring the spectral wolves, you can easily take the hoard of lesser undead. Just remember to finish off the most powerful foe afterwards!
Instant Healing: Something annoying about the werewolves is the fact that when you feed, you enter an animation during which you are vulnerable. A very useful trick is howling after your health goes up to cancel the animation, this will allow us to quickly and safely regenerate.
Quests (In chronological order): Companions until “The Silver Hand”, “Ill met by moonlight”, All the quests that becoming a Thane of Solitude implies, Finish the Companions quest line, Totems of Hircine… And then you are free to do what you want!
Other useful options are the College of Winterhold, the Bards College and the Dawnguard (for an epic vampire vs werewolf match-up).
"Killing you will make for an excellent story!"
"... None of you will be alive to tell it."
Well, that's all for now, please feel free to make suggestions to improve the build, hope you enjoyed, and have fun!
Special Thanks:
-Ben C. A lot of support on how to make the guide more readable.
-Mightystu and Albino. Awesome ideas for the shouts.
P.S. I don't know who to thank for the pictures I used, if you recognize them, please let me know so I can add the author as a source.
What is up, guys! This is my first build, I must admit I was a bit nervous, mainly because I didn’t know if people would like my ideas… Anyways, here is my full lycanthropy build, enjoy!
A lycanthrope is often depicted as either a barbarian (companion style) or as a hunter (hircine style), however, it has been a while since I don’t see a traditional werewolf, in the style of that rich guy who lives secretly on a mansion hiding his true nature, and that is what this build attempts to achieve.
Lore:
The werewolf was a charismatic merchant who traveled all over Tamriel searching for new stock, and to further increase his influence throughout the empire. Along his way, he deceived, seduced and ultimately manipulated anyone he met to the point where all of his power could be broken the second someone realized what was happening. And eventually, it happened. It doesn’t matter which of his lies was discovered, what mattered was how most of the continent now knew who he really was, pursued by all of those who were once to his service he was stripped of all his riches and forced to flee. His journey took him to Skyrim, the land of nords, where honor is the one true way to greatness.
It was here that the merchant decided to rearrange his life; to do things the way they are meant to be done. He traveled to Whiterun, where he asked to become a member of the companions, when Kodlak Whitemane asked him why he desired to do so he answered; “I have been living a life of deceit, of corruption, and I have come to you to learn about honor”. Vilkas looked at him skeptical; a milk-drinking merchant who could barely lift a sword would never be a companion to him. But Kodlak saw right through his soul, and buried deep within, he discovered the true strength of his spirit.
As time passed, the merchant proved to be an indispensable source of strategy, and the mead hall of Jorrvaskr listened to the stories of his numerous journeys in delight, it was then that Skjor, Aela, Vilkas and Farkas, decided he had become a true companion, and so, made him a member of the circle.
The merchant, who had never felt such power fled from the underforge and wandered aimlessly in fear. Days later, when he was about to starve, he saw a beautiful white stag, still scared of his beast form, he chased the stag with nothing but an iron dagger in hand. When he was finally able to claim his prey, and after slaying it, the spirit of the hunt appeared in the name of Hircine. It was then that the spirit convinced him that lycanthropy was not a curse, but a gift, and it was up to him to use it wisely, he was then granted the ring of Hircine, who named him his champion.
He obeyed, and traveled to Solitude, where he quickly became friends with the townsfolk, using his beast form, he could complete the errands of Jarl Elisif the Fair, to the point that he became the thane of the imperial city, always keeping his true self a secret to everyone but the companions.
Stat Distribution:
1:2:1 Once your Enchanting reaches 100 stop placing points into magicka, as our beast form only benefits from health and stamina.
Equipment:
Apparel: Fine Clothes (fortify alteration + fortify alteration and magicka regen), Circlet (Fortify alteration + Fortify Alchemy), Amulet (Fortify alteration + fortify speechcraft), Ring of Hircine, Gloves (Alchemy), Fine Boots.
Weapons: None!
Stone: Lord
Race: Breton. Magic resistance will persist in beast form, plus, we sport a bonus in speech, alteration, and alchemy, which are our core skills.
Shouts:
Slow Time: Our bread and butter, this shout will allow us to fully channel the transformation, and take minimal damage.
Unrelenting Force: Your feral roar sends enemies flying away as you assume the form of the beast.
Disarm: Watch your enemies drop their weapons as they shiver upon seeing your true form.
Aspect of The Dragon: As all the effects of this shout will persist in beast form it will be a great way to scale into the late game as you will deal more damage with power attacks and you will gain a powerful magic resist and armor bonus.
Marked for Death: Sometimes, you don't need to be stronger, sometimes, all you need is for your enemy to be much weaker.
Skills:
ALL OF THE WEREWOLF PERKS
Alteration: Flesh spells will persist in beast form, making us extremely tanky, paralysis is useful for buying time for transforming and the magic resistance is a great bonus too.
Speech: Mostly for role playing, we want to be able to manipulate NPCs (for a good cause, of course), and since most of the stuff we find while clearing dungeons won’t be useful to us, it is great to be able to sell it at a fair price.
Alchemy: Late game as a werewolf can be challenging, as our damage won’t be that great against the progressively higher tier opponents, alchemy can help us close that gap by buffing us pre-transformation.
Enchanting: Bringing the Alteration costs down by a 90% is achievable with only 3 pieces of equipment, this will be extremely useful when you try to dual cast ebonyflesh or mass paralysis.
Flesh Spells: flesh spells will be our guardian angel in beast form, they will provide us with a persistent armor bonus for 60 seconds (30 for dragonhide), now, the most important thing is to make that armor bonus last, here are some good ways to do so:
- Dual Cast Perk: Dual casting any flesh spell increases the base duration to 3 minutes (real time), and your beast form lasts for 2.5 minutes, meaning that without feeding, a dual cast flesh spell will be able to protect you throughout the whole transformation.
- Stability Perk: The perk "Stability" will become available at level 70, this will boost the duration of alteration spells (and the Slow Time Shout) by 50%, meaning dual cast flesh spells will now last for 4.5 minutes!
- Potions: We will be training alchemy as one of our skills... Use it! Alteration potions will make all Alteration spells cast within 60 seconds last longer, ranging from 20% to 100%. At 100% increased duration and combined with our perks standard spells will last for up to 9 minutes!
Another important subject is how strong the armor bonus is. So lets calculate that:
Ebonyflesh: this will be our goal, to obtain ebonyflesh. Without any aid, this spell will grant us 100 armor.
Mage Armor: wearing all clothes is not only for role playing, the mage armor perk will increase the armor rating granted by fleshpells if we aren't wearing any sorts of armor. With all 3 skillpoints invested in Mage Armor, we will get 4 times the armor rating. Oh, look! Ebonyflesh now gives us 400 bonus armor.
Lord Stone: In adition to the our existent resistance to magic (25% breton bonus + 30% magic resistance perk) the Lord Stone will throw in an extra 25%, allowing us to reach the cap. Also, it will help us out with 50 points of armor rating for a total of 450
Aspect of the Dragon: When you feel like this shout is necessary, use it, as it will multiply our armor rating by 1.25, this means that our 450 armor will become 562.5, leaving us extremely close to the cap.
Gameplay:
Your objective as the werewolf is simple; lycanthropy is your main and only source of damage, however, transforming takes some time, this is where or human skills and shouts come in handy. When it comes to role playing, you will have to remember the fact that only the members of The Circle know about your werewolf powers, this means you must not transform in public. Another aspect you have to remember is your charisma; do what you can to make people like you, the high speech level will help you here. Because you are in some sort of quest to become a honorable person and someone of service for Skyrim, it would be wise to destroy the dark brotherhood, and do NOT join the thieves guild. The Bards College is a great option to level up your speech and to make you recognizable among the citizens of Solitude.
Now let's focus on fighting techniques:
-When enemies have already detected you and are surrounding you, you have three options:
1. Use slow time, then cast mass paralysis, flesh spell and transform. This will give you the feeling that enemies have paralyzed on fear upon seeing your transformation. Note that this trick requires a master spell, so for a long time, you will have to settle with less powerful paralysis methods.
2. Use Unrelenting Force to give you some space and then go play seek.
3. Disarm will be extremely useful as it will drastically reduce the damage you will take while transforming and will make it easy to take targets one by one.
-When a boss fight is coming:
1. Use Dragon Aspect into your flesh spell and transform, the effects of Dragon aspect will persist, making you extremely powerful.
2. Use Marked For Death to weaken the opponent and charge! A weakened enemy is obviously much easier to take.
-Utility:
1. Clairvoyance can work as an improved sense of smell while in human form, allowing you to more effectively hunt down your targets.
2. Use Detect Life to mimic your beast-like senses and gain intelligence on an area, this way you might be able to save a shout for later instead of being forced to use it to transform.
Fighting as A Werewolf: You are no lesser werewolf, this means your intelligence is intact while in the beast form. Here's a few strategies for when you have already assumed your true form, because being a werewolf doesn't mean you need no tactics! One of the most known tricks as a werewolf it your sprinting power attack; when you attack while sprinting, your character will lunge towards your cursor dealing 3x damage and knocking targets down, this is extremely useful against heavy targets (giants, trolls, etc.). Another cool trick is your side power attack, this will toss enemies away, giving you a very useful window of time. Finally, we have our howls and the totems of Hircine, which will give us the ability to detect life, summon spectral wolves to help us out, and fear opponents away, now, let's check out some combos for these abilities:
Playing Fetch: Most of the time, you will want to use your howl to fear people away and then pounce on them with your sprint attack, this is extremely simple and powerful. You can add the Summon Wolves power to help you out pick up targets with ease.
Against Undead: Undead will resist the fear from your howl, this means you will need to find another way to make yourself some space to sprint. This is where the Totem of the Hunt comes in handy and allows us to scout the area to know where enemies are and being able to sprint towards them. Of course, there are scenarios where you don't get the opportunity to gain intelligence on the zone, in this situations, what I like to do is quickly identify the biggest threat in the group (Draugr Overlord, Vampire Master, etc.) and flung it away with a side power attack, then, by conjuring the spectral wolves, you can easily take the hoard of lesser undead. Just remember to finish off the most powerful foe afterwards!
Instant Healing: Something annoying about the werewolves is the fact that when you feed, you enter an animation during which you are vulnerable. A very useful trick is howling after your health goes up to cancel the animation, this will allow us to quickly and safely regenerate.
Quests (In chronological order): Companions until “The Silver Hand”, “Ill met by moonlight”, All the quests that becoming a Thane of Solitude implies, Finish the Companions quest line, Totems of Hircine… And then you are free to do what you want!
Other useful options are the College of Winterhold, the Bards College and the Dawnguard (for an epic vampire vs werewolf match-up).
"Killing you will make for an excellent story!"
"... None of you will be alive to tell it."
Well, that's all for now, please feel free to make suggestions to improve the build, hope you enjoyed, and have fun!
Special Thanks:
-Ben C. A lot of support on how to make the guide more readable.
-Mightystu and Albino. Awesome ideas for the shouts.
P.S. I don't know who to thank for the pictures I used, if you recognize them, please let me know so I can add the author as a source.
