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Character Build: The Archer of Talos

Tags: #Character Build Shouts  #Race:Nord  #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Barbarian  #Rank:Recognized  #Dragonborn1721 
  • December 15, 2014

    “Talos the mighty! Talos the unerring! Talos the unassailable! To you we give praise We are but maggots, writhing in the filth of our own corruption! While you have ascended from the dung of mortality, and now walk among the stars! But you were once man! Aye! And as man, you said, "Let me show you the power of Talos Stormcrown, born of the North, where my breath is long winter. I breathe now, in royalty, and reshape this land which is mine. I do this for you, Red Legions, for I love you.”

    Hey there everyone  Dragonborn1421) here this is an older build of mine, there is a tonne of them coming by the way. The general idea is to be Heimskr Junior, yeah that guy everyone hates, you’re his friend and colleague now. Give it a read but ill warn you it covers Talos, Talos, Talos and then Talos some more. Have fun and just know that these aren’t my personal feelings on Talos, Imperials and the Thalmor just my character’s.

    “Imperial Dogs, we fight for you, Talos fought for you. He founded your Empire and yet you spit in his face like this. You bow down to Elven masters and abandon the one man who became god, a man who did what no other has or can do. Well now it is my turn to spit at you for your disloyalty, I fought for you at the Imperial City when the Thalmor attacked, I like the great Ulfric Stormcloak was tortured by them. Yet like him I didn’t break, I held my tongue and gave nothing away, told them no secrets. I was loyal to the Empire and yet I get to welcome back. Branded as a traitor for giving away secrets, I was given back to the Thalmor for 20 more years. They tortured me for those years and guess what, I didn’t break, even after you betrayed me I didn’t betray you. But now I hear that Talos, The mighty Talos who created this Empire is now outlawed, now you will taste my fury. I join Ulfric on this day Imperials, I join him for he was the one who rescued me from the Thalmor. After 20 years I was supposed to be released but of course I wasn’t, now I am free and ready to kill.”

    Race: Nord

    Skyrim, land to Talos the mighty! He is our Lord! Our Savior! And in his eye, I, nay the Nordic people are his true form and his Beloved People!

    Stone: The Lord

    It is Lord Talos who enables me to have this blessing! He gives me power through the Stone, the one he represents for he is Lord of the People! Lord of the Nords! And Lord of the Empire! Even if they have forsaken him.

    Key Shouts: Pretty much all of them.

    Spells: Thunderbolt, Lightning Cloak, Whirlwind Cloak and Chain Lightning,

    Powers: Battlecry

    Stat Placement: 2/1/2

    Archery: “Talos our Lord has blessed my arm, not with sword, hammer or axe but with Bow and Arrow. My arrows rain like lightning striking those who disobey!, Those who turned their backs on him!”

    Destruction: “A mage they call me, the ‘Stormcloaks’ they call themselves. Talos gives me the Storm to their cloaks as I smite down the non-believers and the Elven dogs who own them!

    Light Armor: “I match my Stormcloak brethren’s choice of armor, light so I can move as fast as the Lightning that Lord Talos has blessed me with, light so I can smite down the NON-BELIEVERS!”

    Two-Handed: “When I run out or arrows my Axe comes down, blessed by Talos himself to smite the Elven dogs and their Imperial slaves, TO SMITE DOWN THOSE WHO SPIT ON HIS NAME BY FOLLOWING THEM!”

    Enchanting: “The Non-Believers call it magic, but I know the truth. Lord Talos has given me the power to use part of his essence. My Axe, Bow and Armor are truly blessed with his spirit.”

    How do you role-play a slightly obsessed Priest of Talos, well it’s pretty simple really, you yell out things Heimskr says and pray several times a day.  Well this one will be slightly more complex then that but it’s also really simple, yep complex and simple at the same time the only way I roll. I’ll do this in a similar way to my previous build, as in it’ll be more of a List then some of my older builds but also slightly different because ill add more Roleplay this time.

    1: Pray to Talos at least twice a day (at a shrine if possible but with an amulet is fine.)

    “Lord Talos the Mighty! We are but filth that looks upon you with awe. If you give me your blessing the Non-Believers shall be purged from your homeland! I will purge them!

    2: Chill with Heimskr and take notes on his amazing speeches.

    “Another priest in the Nordic city Whiterun, he worships our Lord in front of the very people who wish to stop us. Together we will spread the word of Talos, we will return those that abandoned him to see the light of our Lord.”

    3: Kill all Thalmor and Imperials Soldiers  you see (if you go to jail so be it, they are dead)

    “The Thalmor Dogs are the ones who spit on Talos! They Spit on Him! On us! On all those who follow the rightful God, the mighty Talos. They try and enslave us, control us and the Imperials allow them! They shall all die!”

    Civil War (Stormcloak Side):

    The Stormcloaks, faithful followers of Talos must be helped. The Imperial Dogs that they fight (and their Thalmor Masters) must be killed! For they have given up their God.”

    Forsworn Conspiracy: (Nords) “The Savage Forsworn in the Reach follow their Evil Gods, they know not the Light that is our Lord Talos. I shall try and educate them but I doubt they will convert. I guess I’ll have to end them and their Evil Gods.”


    Combat is made interesting because of both the focus on Lightning Damage and Resistance mainly and of course the idea of being a long range sniper who mainly uses enchantments to deal damage.

    Mages: Only thing to watch out for is Fire Mages with Fireball but even then Mages are ridiculously easy to beat especially at lower levels.  You end up withstanding nearly all Lightning and half of any Frost Damage so you’re good on both sides there. The general approach should be either suck them dry with lightning spells such as Thunderbolt or even better Chain Lightning and then snipe them with your bow if they still exist. Alternatively you can snipe them straight up with the bow, both work well and basically the only thing that changes anything is their spell choice. Concentration spells are no problem because they can’t get close, Wards aren’t really a problem because of the Bow and Long Range spells are fin e because Fire doesn’t really have them and you resist the other two elements.

    Warriors: These guys are beyond simple, snipe em and leave em. Of course indoors this isn’t always an option. Throwing up a cloak (Whirlwind or Lightning works but Whirlwind works better) is your main defense against these guys because if they catch up you’re pretty much dead. Chain Lightning is remarkably deadly close up against multiple enemies so that’s you spell of choice later on and I never recommend using the Bow inside, unless it’s a large area of course.

    Shouts against Mages: Become Ethereal, Fire Breath, Frost Breath, Storm Call, Cyclone and Ice Form are your go to shouts against Mages. Your main goal with mages should always be finishing them off quickly.

    Shouts against Warriors: Cyclone, Dragon Aspect, Unrelenting Force and Whirlwind Sprint are the main choice here. Offensive shouts are slightly less useful because you can inflict more damage with your spells (considering the regen for Magicka is usually faster than Shout Cool down)

    Archers:  Another simple fight, of course getting hit is something you never want because of the Extremely low AR. Spells work better but the Bow is a very Solid option (considering they can only take a few hits with the enchants on it) Your main goal is to keep moving, weaving and that and then as soon as they shoot, fire away with either spell or arrow.

    Shouts against Archers: Become Ethereal, Unrelenting Force and Ice Form for more defensive shouts (in this context) with Storm Call being your go to Offensive Shout, or if you think you’ll need more than one go Fire Breath.

    Dragons: Dragons are quite honestly the only reason I took the Battleaxe as an option in the end. With the intense focus on shouts Dragonrend should always be your main aerial offensive option and then the Battleaxe comes out, A frost Dragon however is a good target for your bow because you’ll be taking a lot of damage from the physical attacks and the %50 Frost Resist can help out immensely.

    Shouts against Dragons: Dragonrend, Storm Call, Clear Skies, Become Ethereal (when they shout) and Whirlwind Sprint are your main shouts against Dragons. Dragonrend is for making them land where it’s easier for you to deal with. Storm Call is great for when you don’t have Dragonrend and just want to hit Dragons, in my Experience its fairly accurate and at the third word Dragons rarely fly away out of range. Clear Skies has a tiny cool-down and has a really high Stagger ability which is perfect for disrupting Fire or Frost Breath attacks. Whirlwind Sprint can be used to get to safe sniping range with the bow or with spells.

     I felt that being Dragonborn was a huge part of this character, he worships Talos to a nearly insane level and I think being revealed as something he shares with Talos would, well lets just say he would become slightly more devout but at the same time start comparing himself to Talos a little to much. I'm not good with words so rather then me explain it as myself I'll let him describe it.

    "Talos the Unassailable you say, how can he be unassailable when I am a part of him! I the Dragonborn share the blood of Talos the Mighty! I share his power, the same blood that ran through his veins, now runs through mine! You Thalmor say that man could not become a God but he did and now I am becoming one! I shall surpass all those who dare consider themselves close to Talos' Might! Hear me now people of Skyrim for Talos the Mighty has risen again!"


    The Storm of Talos: (Storm Call, Chain Lightning three or more times and then finish with Stormcaller Bow) 


    "Talos has blessed my battle with the power of lightning. My Voice brings down a mighty Storm and then I use the power of my magicka to send lightning arcing into my enemies. If any foes live after this my Storm Caller Bow." (This works best against multiple enemies obviously, but using it against Dragons is really solid of a choice as well. The main enemy to use it on is Mages because of the constant damage and them being unable to keep a ward up.)

    Lightning Blade: (Shock Blade with Lightning Cloak followed by Cyclone/Unrelenting Force)

    "An option Talos never likes me using, he and I both know that I am no close-range fighter. If I am forced into Close Combat then this is my go to strategy." (Works best on Warriors, only one or two at a time though, any more and running in the opposite direction is the main idea because you just can't take the hits.)

    Well that was an interesting build for me to play, I’m sure you guys could tell that I had hit a fondness of Deities to make a character at this point (roughly 5 months ago now) I've gone over it since then obviously and tried to fit it better with my current style (I’m still experimenting) The idea of this build was for me to explore something the complete opposite of what I usually think or do, I’m a very non-religious sort of person so playing as an extremely religious priest was really different and fun for me. Overall I chose Talos because of Heimskr being in the game, he’s pretty much the only really strong worshiper of a god and I think it was an interesting choice to include him in the game.  I know the whole focus on Lightning is out of place but for some reason I've always associated Talos with Lightning (damn you D&D and you’re conflicting gods).

    Oh and before you get shitty about this being my second build in a week, these have been piling up for months and I’ll just be fixing them up a little and doing the art for them before posting so that’s why they’re not on par with my later builds (The Poison Purge, Grey Prince, The Moulder you know my better ones)

    So as usual tell me what you think of this guy, hardly my best work I’ll admit that readily but it was fun as usual. Check out my Page for other Builds of mine or check out the Dragonborn1421 tag . Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment and a like, hell leave one on all my builds one of them is nearly at 50. See you guys later with more builds.

  • Member
    December 15, 2014

    Now I'm imagining this guy running about yelling "FEAR ME ELVEN SCUM! I AM TALOS ONCE AGAIN! I SHALL RAIN DEATH UPON YOU AS HE DID AGES AGO! OOOOOOOH!" While waving his arms about and making spooky ghost noises, while linging lightning from his fingers

  • December 15, 2014
    Hahahahahahah that would be great, just the sort of thing he'd do as well.
  • December 15, 2014
    It is but the Extra Effects are meant for end game not so much ASAP. I actually debated whether I'd choose it for this build. well that's what my notes on it say so I'll believe past me. If you were going to play it but wanted to feel a little less powerful I'd reccomend dropping Extra Effect and throwing the perk onto Destruction to dual cast spells (it would be just as useful and still weaker without Impact)
  • Member
    December 15, 2014

    "2: Chill with Heimskr and take notes on his amazing speeches."

    it is gonna be an awesome roleplay:D

  • December 15, 2014
    I prefer using the word interesting, it's very interesting. Thanks for the like and comment by the way.
  • Member
    December 15, 2014
    I've always got a moment or two to talk about our Lord Talos xD You've been a busy man, DB! Great build... as always ;D
  • December 16, 2014
    Thanks Shin, up would you be surpriesed to know that I'm constantly working on three or four builds, the process of elimination sucks because only the coolest can get it.
  • December 16, 2014
    That is true and you could easily control yourself, however I did intend for the build to be powerful when you add on the enchantments so I maxed them all out and let me tell you that bow is evil with how much enchanted damage it can do.
  • Member
    December 16, 2014

    Nice build, I like it. I'm going to give it a try.