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Character Build: The Outcast

Tags: #Character Build Barbarian  #Character Build Assassin  #Character Build Alchemist  #Race:Orsimer  #Rank:Exemplar  #Teineeva 
  • Member
    April 3, 2015

    Orc shadowblade

    The Orcs of Orsinium are a fearless and wild people, they live in fortifed encampments they call strongholds and worship the daedric prince Malacath. Most Orcs live by a certain set of rules that are called the Code of Malacath. However not every orc takes a liking to said code, you are one such orcs.

    Character Build: The Outcast

    The outcast, born in a distant orc stronghold, became a "city-orc" by choice. He is a ruthless killer, a butcher to some,  a stranger to most, even his own clan. While his lifestyle of assassinations and murders would seem to clash with the orc traditions and customs, he has managed to keep his parent's heritage alive: prefering axes over daggers, he chooses for brutality in murder rather than subtlety. It is this brutality that has made him a name throughout the former Septim Empire. He, like many others of his race, doesn't care for gold, but kills for the sheer pleasure and the smell and sound of blood dripping off his blade. He has no enemies, for he keeps none alive. However sometimes his brutality just isn't enough and a little tribal knowledge will be required, this is where his upbringing really comes in to play. As a son of the tribes Wisewoman, the outcast is well versed in the creation of potions and poisons alike, I'll let you figure ou which one he prefers.

    Race: Orc, there is little choice to be had as the racial ability of this magnificent race of killers will be necessary for this build

    Stat distribution: 0/1/2 you are not a mage, you are an assassin and as such you will not need any extra magicka, however a few well timed power strikes  and the capability to run long distances might just come in handy.

    Stone: I would tend to go for the Thieve stone at the start of your playthrough. However later on the serpent, shadow, and lord might just be more interesting. The lord especially as you will not be wearing a lot of armor.

    Major Skills:

     

    One-Handed:

    This will be your most basic skill, after all as a race which rather than having an affinity for magic seems to be slightly resilient to it, you will need a weapon, and let's just say that you have learned from experience that those two-handers can be quite cumbersome, the same counts for shields.

    I would recommend getting the Fighting stance, Savage strike, Hack and Slash, and Paralyzing strike perks. The armsman perks can be mostly skipped but may come in handy if you feel you need a bit more of an edge in combat.

    Here are the perks I used: 5/5 armsman, Fighting stance,Savage strike, Hack and Slash 3/3, and Paralyzing strike.

    Sneak:

    While normal orcs would shy away from such methods you revel in them. Backslicing and hacking is what you do, after all it's quite difficult to backstab someone with an axe, even an orcish one.

    Again the more essential perks are Backstab, Silent roll and Silence, which sadly makes Muffled movement(mostly useless) and Lightfoot (I just don't like it) obligatory. Again the stealth perks are quite optionnal and can be taken to personal preference.

     

    The perks I used are: Stealth 3/5 (I like a bit of challenge), backstab, Muffled movement, Lightfoot, and Silence.

     

    Alchemy:

    As sais previously your tribal upbringing has helped you many times before, especially when you needed that extra little edge in combat.

    The obligatory perks are: Alchemist, Benefactor, Poisoner, Concentrated Poison and just to show off your inborn resistance to about everything: Snakeblood.

     

    The Perks I used are: Alchemist 5/5, Benefactor, Poisoner, Concentrated Poison, and as a bonus on the later levels Snakeblood.

    Two-Handed:

    Yes, you read it right, While I said they were cumbersome I never said they weren't usefull, and combined with our racial power they will provide some nice sneak attacks.

    Recommended perks are: Champion's stance, Devastating Blow, and Limbsplitter. Yet again take as many barbarian ranks as you like.

     

     

    I used the Perks Barbarian 5/5, Champion's stance, Devastating Blow, Great critical charge and Limbsplitter 3/3

    Minor Skills:

     

    Block:

    While you won't be using a shield, the block perk tree offers a few perks that could definitively be usefull would you ever get into a fight, especially when you are trying to get away from one.There are but two perks that are somewhat usefull to this build: the Quick reflexes perk and if you have the perks to spare the Shield charge Perk. Both of these perks can be used for a swift, yet brutal, escape from the battlefield (provided you use the shield charge glitch) I suggest taking the right branch as the left one won't be of much use to you as we won't be using a shield.

     

    I used: Shield wall 1/5, Quick reflexes, Power bash, Deadly bash, Disarming bash and Shield charge.

    I recommand using the companion's block trainer to upgrade your skill, as you won't be blocking a lot of hits if everything goes as planned, especially after you take the quick reflexes perk.

     

    Smithing:

    The art of smithing is in your blood and through a lot of training you have managed to learn how to create and take care of your gear.

    This is another one of those skills that aren't really needed but will definitively come in handy, all the perks you need will be the orcish smithing and later on the arcane smithing perk.

     

     I used: Steel smithing, Dwarven smithing, Orcish smithing, and Arcane smithing

    Equipment:

    Headgear: Stormcloak officer helmet or Thieves guild hood

    Bodygear: Dunmer Outfit without hood (the yellow variant preferably even though it can only be obtained through the console as far as I know) or some light leather based armor (hide, studded, leather, scaled)

    Hands: Stormcloak officer gauntlets

    Boots: Stormcloak officer boots

    Weapons: Orcish Waraxe and an Orcish Battleaxe that you can replace with the Rueful axe later on.

    The Weapons can be forged and found, and the stormcloak officer's gear can be found scattered throughout skyrim in some of the military forts (I would check the ones in stormcloak territory first), can be found on dead stormcloak officers if sided with the imperials, or will be given during the stormclaok quests.

    The hoodless yellow dunmer outfit can as said earlier only be obtained through the console, which is a pain. However it can be replaced by any kind of lower tier leather based armor (up to scaled maybe) if you are playing on a console version or if you are absolutely opposed against using the console, even if it is to get some clothing with arather useless enchantment for this build.

    You will notice that most of the gear I chose isn't that protective (especially the dunmer outfit), and that the weapons used won't be top gear, this is a deliberate choice, not only because it's just aesthetically pleasing, but because I really wanted this build to be more of a mobility and sneak based build.

    Gameplay:

    This is where this build will start to get a bit more interesting. While most people tend to think of orcs as a warrior race, their racial ability lends itself particulary well to assassins. First of all it allows to double your damage, which if you would be wielding a dagger, have the assassin's blade perk, and are wearing the shrouded gauntlets could bring you up to 60x your daggers normal damage when sneaking. Which is quite monstruous. We will not be using a dagger though, but rather an axe, which will basicly mean that when we use our war axe and have the backstab perk, you will be able to do nearly as much if not just as much damage as a dagger with the assassin's blade perk when sneaking, if you use your racial ability.

    The other advantage of the berserker rage power that is usefull for assassins is the fact that it halfs all incoming physical damage, which means that if you are detected and you will have to flee you can activate your racial ability to negate half of the incoming damage, therefore we don't need to invest into any armor skills as long as you don't forget to dodge those pesky fireballs and arrows.

    This allows us to actually make quite a good stealth weapon of our beautiful orcish battleaxe. With a x4 damage multiplier instead of the normal x2 multiplier it can rival a non berserker strike from our war axe. When I started this build I had hoped that the Sweeping perk would allow us to perform multiple sneak attacks at once, however it seems Bethesda decided that wouldn't be a nice feature and has disabled sideswings with two handers when sneaking, which is quite a shame.

    Damage calculations and game limitations aside, the outcast will be sneaking into his mark's lair stealthfully butchering everyone he sees with the weapon of his choice, and if he gets caught just activate your rage and shield charge your way out of there. Or if you are feeling it is the way to go, just activate your power and get your battle axe out. The quick reflexes perk will allow you to dodge a few hits if needed. If combined with the paralyzing strike perk it will definitively be great for a get away.

    Overall your alchemy skill will mostly be used to create a few poisons and potions which will buff you or bring chaos upon your enemy. Try to be creative in it's use. You may be bloodthirsty but you were also born cruel, keep that in mind at all time.

    There are a few small details that might be usefull to know and that I'll write down here when I remember them, it isn't really any essential information but rather usefull information for the general gameplay: First of all, wield your war axe to move faster, if you want to kill your target with your battleaxe, switch it out when your prey is in reach. The possibility to use your battleaxe is quite usefull against bigger enemies, like giants (I managed to kill them from level 5 and onwards with the use of berserker rage) and centurions as they will be staggered when you succesfully pull of a sneak attack which gives you the space for a second strike.

    Another thing to keep in mind (kudos to curse never dying for helping me remember this), is that you don't have to finish off most low health enemies, as the bleeding effect (which stacks) will probably get the better of them in no time, which in turn allows you to focus on other people.

    Combat:

    First of all, while no one bests an orc, you are quite squishy, let's just face it. So when entering combat, you have to keep that in mind. A well placed power strike from a two-hander will probably cause quite a bit of irreversable damage. The same counts for dual wielders. So here are a few tactical manoeuvers that can be useful to keep in mind, should you enter an open fight:

    Facing Two Handers:

    This is the perfect timing to test out the Quick reflexes+Paralyzing strike I mentionned earlier.Equip your war axe, this may give you the disadvantage in range but you will be faster. Dodge his normal strikes while waiting for him to perform a power strike, when he does, dodge and perform a backwards power strike with your war axe to his side. He will be paralyzed (as long as you have the right perk) and will be completely vulnerable to your butchering.

    Facing Dual wielders:

    Try to take them out with a nice Rueful axe+berserker rage+silent roll+Great critical charge combo. This should kill about anyone, as long as you don't bump into him during your charge. The stagger and the enchantment on the rueful axe should enable you to follow up with a second power strike if needed.

    Facing Mages or Archers:

    Follow the basic guidelines from "killing without getting killed", it's a great book. Or just dodge, you should be nimble enough to do this.

    Facing groups:

    This is where your alchemy skills come into play. Drink a Rage Enhancer or a Barbarian's Life simplifier (check the potion list below). First you have to find the strongest guy around, get rid of him first using your berserker rage during a sneak attack. Then Poison your axe with a Crippling Fear Poison, this will allow you to take on the others one by one (if the poison works). And use the aforementioned techniques to get rid of them.

    Fleeing:

    Yes, it isn't what a proper orc would do, but then you are not a proper orc are you? When your life seems in danger (which might happen quite often especially as berserker rage can only be used once a day), just flee. Don't try to take a last stand, you won't survive and that's just not someting you would do. I recommend using an Orc Blood Elixir on your waraxe and hitting the weakest enemy, or the closest mage,hoping he or she will survive and enter a Frenzy. This will allow you to have a distraction. Now it's time to run, or to shield charge (glitch) your way out of there (provided you have the perk).

    Background:

              Image by Nal on the Nexus website

    You were born in the stronghold of Largashbur in the Rift, to the Wise woman of the tribe. She learned you everything you know about alchemy, and raised you to be a strong orc warrior who may one day overthrow his father, the chief, as is the orc custom. However you grew to be quite a strange orc, you weren't pleased with your way of life, in your mind the fact that to be seen as a true orc you had to face your enemies head on, like some stupid boar felt stupid, you prefered by far the way the sabercats and wolves would hunt, approach your prey stealthfully and then finish it off before it even notices you.

    As you grew older you started to adapt this theory into practice and the fruits of your work were succesfull, you learned how to control your rage and use it the way you preferd to use it, as a precise and sharp tool rather than a chaotic and Blunt one. However this was frowned upon by your father who ended up by giving you a choice: stop your practice or leave the stronghold.

    You chose the latter and decided to join up with the legion, there your knowledge was used to it's full extent as you would often be deployed as an assassin. However when you withnessed a few members of the Elder Council plot against the emporer they decided you would have to die, and as you were asked to perform a mission near Helgen you were lead into a trap, the rest is history.

    Recommanded Quests:

    The Dark Brotherhood: as an assassin this seems quite obvious

    The Thieves guild is a possibility especially if you can't find any stormcloak officer helmets. But depending on your take on the roleplay of the build it might clash. You are a killer not a thief.

    Malacath's quest: You return to Largashbur, only to find the stronghold being besieged by giants. Your mother has died years ago and your father is still in charge, despite his age, and just as the other orcs in the stronghold doesn't recognize you anymore, after all you have been gone for years. Will you help your father or will you bring his downfall?

    Clavicus vile's quest: To get the Rueful axe obviously, which is just a great looking weapon.

    The companions: you can start this although you will tend to oppose yourself against their beastblood and will stop doing their quest at that point in the story (you tend to sometimes have a bit too much trouble containing your own blood already)

    Potions and Poisons:

    Orcish Blood Elixir:

    Fury and damage magicka (it might be interesting to invest a bit in illusion to make sure your Frenzy effect covers more enemies)

    Needs: Hagraven Feathers, Fly amanita and Chaurus eggs.

    Crippling Fear:

    Fear and Stamina damage

    Needs: blisterwort, namira's rot and a cyrodilic spadetail.

    Rage Enhancer:

    Fortify One-handed and restore stamina

    Needs: Bear claws, Purple Mountain flower, and Canis root.

    Tracker's Draught:

    Fortify Sneak, Resist Poison and Resist frost (kudos to Vezgad on the last effect)

    Needs: Thistle branch, Purple mountain flower, Beehive husk.

    Barbarian's Life Simplifier:

    Fortify two-handed, Regenerate stamina, and Resist fire

    Needs: Fly amanita, Dragon's tongue and a Bee.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Member
    April 3, 2015

    Nice use of Berserker Rage to enhance backstab damage for axes +1

  • Member
    April 4, 2015
    Definitely going to play this later on XD
  • Member
    April 4, 2015

    Lol I had a build idea very similar to this one... mine made use of the long hammer and wind fury and berserkersrage, but the role-play was very similar. 

  • Member
    April 4, 2015

    Thank you for the positive reactions. It seems that constantly stalking the blog for the last year or two has been quite fruitful as far as I'm concerned: my first build isn't even 12 hours old and I'm already halfway through the bloodworks. I have to say I'm quite pleased with myself and feel quite honoured with the handful of likes the outcast has collected so far.

    I would also like to thank Ponty for his clear and well made guide on "how to make a build". And would like to say that I have discovered (while making and playtesting this build) that there are but a few things more pleasing than the sight of a crazed orc slashing someone's ribcage out with a great two-handed battleaxe from the shadows, especially when you are said orc ;D

  • Member
    April 4, 2015
    Your Outcast gives me an excuse to use Orcish weaponry now, thabks
  • April 4, 2015
    This is pretty sweet. One thing you might wish to highlight is the insane bleeding damage from orcish axes. I think level 3 limp splitter deals about 9 damage per sec from bleeding and that shit stacks.
  • Member
    April 4, 2015

    Thanks for the info, I had completely forgotten about that. Although it might not be that usefull for an assassin but when you've just had enough and are charging through a dungeon, battleaxe blazing, rage ongoing, this might just be very interesting. Again, thank you.

  • Member
    April 4, 2015

    Have a like!  Can't go wrong with an Orcish badass, IMO. :)  You sold me not only with the concept, but with the style - both in terms of writing, and in overall presentation.  Well done!

  • Member
    April 4, 2015

    Hm, I shall have to give some thought to renaming my WiP Orc build XD. Nice work here!