The Hexer
"Through the Ashlands of Morrowind, across the shifting sands of The Alik’r, against the dread armies from the Oblivions Gates - we have fought. We are the forsaken, betrayed, sons and daughters of Chaos. By the Light and by the might of the righteous, the first strike belongs to us and the last strike is all that our enemies see."
- HexerLord Argomond
"Hexers are true masters at slaughtering masses of undead, purging them with sword and flame"
Hexers are mysterious, shadowy warriors who fight against the forces of chaos using its own terrible power against it. They charge into battle making use of mighty silver swords, protective magics and demonfire to eradicate the unholy creatures that they are sworn to rid from this world. Shunned by greater society, Hexers are often feared, maligned and misunderstood for their power and their use of demonic-magics - but it is common knowledge that the once mighty order played an essential role in the containment of The Oblivion Crises.
Build Overview
- Race: Breton - There is no denying the power of a constant 25% magic resistance and since I played this build on legendary difficulty I wanted every advantage I could get my hands on. However, there is no strict racial roleplay to this build, so if you play on a low-end difficulty any race will do.
- Stone: Mage > Lord - The mage stone in conjunction with ‘well rested bonus’ is an excellent way of levelling your most essential skills fast. The Lord Stone should be activated at about level 20 for a great boost to all your defensive stats when combined with alteration perks and spells.
- Shouts: Dismay, Fire Breath, Marked for Death and Dragon Aspect - The synergy between this build and Dragon Aspect is overpowered, bordering on ridiculous; the armour increase, magic resistance and power attack damage bonus combined with maxed out alteration, restoration and two-handed, plus The Lord Stone and powerful dragon shouts such as Fire Breath and Marked for Death - equals an unstoppable force of death and destruction that can annihilate high level dragons in a matter of seconds… even when playing on legendary difficulty.
- Weapons: Silver Greatsword and Skyforge Steal- / Nordic Greatsword with fire damage + absorb stamina - Much like a Witcher, The Hexer makes use of two swords: one for dealing with undead and another for humanoids, beats and what have we not. Both weapons will be enchanted with absorb stamina, so that The Hexer has no need to invest a single point therein.
- Equipment: Master Robes of Alteration, Thalmor Gloves of fortify magicka + fortify two-handed, Hood of fortify magicka + fortify destruction, necklace of fortify magicka + fortify destruction and ring of fortify magicka + fortify alteration - Your equipment only serves one purpose: to make spells cheaper to cast and your magicka pool bigger.
Offensive Skills
- Two-handed: The Hexers main melee offence, executed gracefully with mighty blades of either silver or steel (depending on the foes you face). Two-handed is the perfect skill for dealing with undead as it allows great damage by power attacks but also a range advantage and the ability to easily block.
- Destruction: Destruction is used in conjunction with aspect of terror for some truly devastating flame cloaks and “demonfire” destruction spells. Serving as The Hexers secondary DPS skill, destruction will focus only on fire damage and the use of flame cloaks in melee combat for a super powerful aura of death.
- Illusion: Every warrior knows how to control his weapon, but in order to always be victorious, one must learn how to master the enemy. Illusion is a great way to take control of the battlefield, by either forcing the weak to flee or the strong to fight each other.
Defensive Skills
- Restoration: The Hexer makes use of both demonfire and holy light to disintegrate the undead vermin which he relentlessly hunts. Restoration is a great skill for just about any build, but for The Hexer it is especially useful as you will be making use of healing spells and anti-undead spells alike.
- Alteration: A Hexer is in essence a melee battlemage without the heavy armor. Instead he/she makes use of potent alteration spells and The Lord Stone to buff his/her defensive capabilities, becoming very hard to kill for spellcatsers and warriors due to large amounts of both magical and physical damage resistances.
- Block: Due to the dangerous nature of an unarmored close quarters battlemage style of combat, restoration and alteration alone simply aren't enough to be completely safe in the heat of combat (at least not on legendary). Block serves as your first line of defence and is used between attacks to minimise the damage taken.
- (Hybrid) Enchanting: In truth enchanting is as much an offensive skill as a defensive. Anyways, enchanting is used to maximise the effectiveness of The Hexers weapons by applying powerful fire enchantments. Enchanting also serves as a way to minimise the costs of spells by fortify *skill* enchantments.
Perkspread
Level 20: http://skyrimcalculator.com/412401
Level 35: http://skyrimcalculator.com/412402
Level 55: http://skyrimcalculator.com/412400
Lore and Roleplay
“The Hexers of Tamriel are a faction of scourge-hunters who where founded by The Legendary Argomond HexerLord almost four hundred years ago. The origins of the faction remain largely in shadow, though it is know that only those who have suffered major losses from dremora, undead or other abominations are allowed to join. Once accepted into the cult, a Hexer must undergo extensive training, ruthless mental and physical conditioning, and mysterious rituals that forge individuals bent on revenge into master weapons of war.”
“Thus every Hexer has but one meaning in life - to take revenge upon the damned and bring justice to a world of chaos and terror using forbidden magics such as demonfire to fight those who created it.”
- From the book ‘a cult of chaos’
Roleplay: Roleplaying as a Hexer is a very rewarding experience in Skyrim, the code of life is simple, inspired by that of Witchers and Demonhunter, but with a Tamrielic twist; there are a ton of undead-hunting quests and with Dawnguard you have an entire faction to follow. Besides, The Hexer is not wholly good, far from in fact, and therefore you are in no way obliged to follow the law. Hexers are also known to be power-hungry, constantly seeking more destructive ways to defy the Daedric princes and slay their minions. All in all you should strive to find a balance between good and evil when playing a Hexer.
- Quests: Main Quest, Collage of Winterhold, Dawnguard
- Hunts: Laid to Rest, The Man Who Cried Wolf, The Wolf Queen Awakened, Ancestral Worship, Evil in Waiting.
Demonfire Unleashed
Hexers are famous (or rather infamous) for their secret techniques that allow them to utilise and master “demonfire” - destructive fire-magic so potent it can melt stone and metal in a heartbeat. Therefore a Hexer’s greatest asset is his fire-mastery abilities. Unlike most other builds that make use of the aspect of terror and augmented flames combination, for some seriously powerful fire-spells, I didn’t want to completely abuse the damage boost effect. Therefore I decided to use the “demonfire” combo in a much more subtle way - by utilising it to empower the flame cloak spell for a ton of passive damage.
If you still haven't understood what the aspect of terror + augmented flames combo is, it’s when you select the perk “aspect of terror” in the illusion skill tree and the “augmented flames” perks from the destruction tree. Aspect of terror boosts the effectiveness of all fear spells by 10 levels, but since fire spells also count as fear spells (enemies flee when set aflame and on low life) it boosts the damage of all fire spells by 10 damage. Combine this with 2 out of 2 augmented flames for another 50% damage boost, and you’ve got one hell of a powerful pyromancer.
Once all relevant perks have been placed, you are ready to dual cast flame cloak for a whopping 22 damage per sec for 60 sec. Thats 1320 damage over 60 seconds! Combine this with the physical damage from your two-handed sword and enchanting damage, and you have a character that kicks ass without equal.
- Spells: Flame Cloak, Flames, Oak- to Ebonyflesh, Frenzy type spells, Fear type spells, Fast Healing, Sun Fire, Stendarr’s Aura, Turn Undead, Vampire’s Bane.
Gameplay
The gameplay of The Hexer requires patience and careful planning to truly master. Remember that your flesh-spells and cleverly timed blocks, are of the essence in order to stay alive. The quick reflexes perk offers a great way to disrupt enemy attacks and unleash the true power of two-handed weaponry - stagger. In Skyrim a weapons weight determines how fast (or slow) the weapon swings, and how much a successful hit will stagger. Therefore power attacking with a two-handed weapon will have a much more drastic effect than power attacking with a one handed weapon - often leaving enemies sitting flat on their bum and defenceless. Thus a simple, but great, combination to use in combat is; a bash as the enemy power attacks, then an ordinary attack as they recover from the stagger, leading into a power attack of your own (staggering the enemy once more) and finally one or two attacks more for the finish.
As far as magic concerned, you will typically start off by casting a flesh spell (dual cast if you have the magicka pool) followed by a demonfire-charged flame cloak. I also found illusion to be a very powerful asset to this build as it allows us to create a great deal of confusion on the battlefield, softening up the enemies, before we enter the fray ourselves. Therefore it’s typically a good idea to cast a frenzy spell (or two) on the most problematic enemies and then (critically) charge into battle afterwards.
Two-handed and magic has always been challenging to combine without ruining the flow of a build. This is due to the slowness of drawing, sheathing and switching between a greatsword and a spell (any spell). To tackle this major weakness, I specifically designed the build to only utilise “long term spells”. You see, this build only really makes use of lasting spells such as flesh-spells, fear- and frenzy-spells and flame cloaks, which all have the major advantage that they can be cast in advance and last for at least one minute. However, if a fight should drag on and last longer than your flame cloak and iron flesh, all you have to do is fear your foes (by either using Dismay or a fear spell). Retreat. And cast the spells again to renew their durations.
All in all The Hexer offers a great deal of crowd control, synergy between skills and spells and most important of all, tons of fun.
Stat Placement:
Health-1 / Magicka-3 / Stamina-0
Special Moves
The Unholy Shall Burn
Hexers have mastered the art of slaying the undead and often sell those skills for coin or other riches. Silver Greatsword + Fire Enchantment + Stendarr’s Aura
Window of Peace
Escape any sticky situation by causing your enemies to flee, allowing you a limited window of time where you can ready yourself for one more onslaught. Dismay + Fast Healing
Demon’s Breath
What better way to fight the unholy, than to engulf yourself in their own demon-charged flames and watch them burn whilst you flood the battlefield in fire? Aspect of Terror + Fire Breath + Flame Cloak + Flames
Righteous Shield
The righteous man will go unhurt - protect yourself from the darkness with holy magics forged in the high heavens themselves. Lord Stone + Ebonyflesh + Mage Armor + Magic Resist + Racial Power
Aspect of Chaos
Unleash the full force of your holy and hellish powers at the same moment and watch all flee before you in your blazing chaotic glory. Demon’s Breath + Righteous Shield + Dragon Aspect
Click The Icon and See Dragons Fight!
The Hexer
"Through the Ashlands of Morrowind, across the shifting sands of The Alik’r, against the dread armies from the Oblivions Gates - we have fought. We are the forsaken, betrayed, sons and daughters of Chaos. By the Light and by the might of the righteous, the first strike belongs to us and the last strike is all that our enemies see."
- HexerLord Argomond
"Hexers are true masters at slaughtering masses of undead, purging them with sword and flame"
Hexers are mysterious, shadowy warriors who fight against the forces of chaos using its own terrible power against it. They charge into battle making use of mighty silver swords, protective magics and demonfire to eradicate the unholy creatures that they are sworn to rid from this world. Shunned by greater society, Hexers are often feared, maligned and misunderstood for their power and their use of demonic-magics - but it is common knowledge that the once mighty order played an essential role in the containment of The Oblivion Crises.
Build Overview
- Race: Breton - There is no denying the power of a constant 25% magic resistance and since I played this build on legendary difficulty I wanted every advantage I could get my hands on. However, there is no strict racial roleplay to this build, so if you play on a low-end difficulty any race will do.
- Stone: Mage > Lord - The mage stone in conjunction with ‘well rested bonus’ is an excellent way of levelling your most essential skills fast. The Lord Stone should be activated at about level 20 for a great boost to all your defensive stats when combined with alteration perks and spells.
- Shouts: Dismay, Fire Breath, Marked for Death and Dragon Aspect - The synergy between this build and Dragon Aspect is overpowered, bordering on ridiculous; the armour increase, magic resistance and power attack damage bonus combined with maxed out alteration, restoration and two-handed, plus The Lord Stone and powerful dragon shouts such as Fire Breath and Marked for Death - equals an unstoppable force of death and destruction that can annihilate high level dragons in a matter of seconds… even when playing on legendary difficulty.
- Weapons: Silver Greatsword and Skyforge Steal- / Nordic Greatsword with fire damage + absorb stamina - Much like a Witcher, The Hexer makes use of two swords: one for dealing with undead and another for humanoids, beats and what have we not. Both weapons will be enchanted with absorb stamina, so that The Hexer has no need to invest a single point therein.
- Equipment: Master Robes of Alteration, Thalmor Gloves of fortify magicka + fortify two-handed, Hood of fortify magicka + fortify destruction, necklace of fortify magicka + fortify destruction and ring of fortify magicka + fortify alteration - Your equipment only serves one purpose: to make spells cheaper to cast and your magicka pool bigger.
Offensive Skills
- Two-handed: The Hexers main melee offence, executed gracefully with mighty blades of either silver or steel (depending on the foes you face). Two-handed is the perfect skill for dealing with undead as it allows great damage by power attacks but also a range advantage and the ability to easily block.
- Destruction: Destruction is used in conjunction with aspect of terror for some truly devastating flame cloaks and “demonfire” destruction spells. Serving as The Hexers secondary DPS skill, destruction will focus only on fire damage and the use of flame cloaks in melee combat for a super powerful aura of death.
- Illusion: Every warrior knows how to control his weapon, but in order to always be victorious, one must learn how to master the enemy. Illusion is a great way to take control of the battlefield, by either forcing the weak to flee or the strong to fight each other.
Defensive Skills
- Restoration: The Hexer makes use of both demonfire and holy light to disintegrate the undead vermin which he relentlessly hunts. Restoration is a great skill for just about any build, but for The Hexer it is especially useful as you will be making use of healing spells and anti-undead spells alike.
- Alteration: A Hexer is in essence a melee battlemage without the heavy armor. Instead he/she makes use of potent alteration spells and The Lord Stone to buff his/her defensive capabilities, becoming very hard to kill for spellcatsers and warriors due to large amounts of both magical and physical damage resistances.
- Block: Due to the dangerous nature of an unarmored close quarters battlemage style of combat, restoration and alteration alone simply aren't enough to be completely safe in the heat of combat (at least not on legendary). Block serves as your first line of defence and is used between attacks to minimise the damage taken.
- (Hybrid) Enchanting: In truth enchanting is as much an offensive skill as a defensive. Anyways, enchanting is used to maximise the effectiveness of The Hexers weapons by applying powerful fire enchantments. Enchanting also serves as a way to minimise the costs of spells by fortify *skill* enchantments.
Perkspread
Level 20: http://skyrimcalculator.com/412401
Level 35: http://skyrimcalculator.com/412402
Level 55: http://skyrimcalculator.com/412400
Lore and Roleplay
“The Hexers of Tamriel are a faction of scourge-hunters who where founded by The Legendary Argomond HexerLord almost four hundred years ago. The origins of the faction remain largely in shadow, though it is know that only those who have suffered major losses from dremora, undead or other abominations are allowed to join. Once accepted into the cult, a Hexer must undergo extensive training, ruthless mental and physical conditioning, and mysterious rituals that forge individuals bent on revenge into master weapons of war.”
“Thus every Hexer has but one meaning in life - to take revenge upon the damned and bring justice to a world of chaos and terror using forbidden magics such as demonfire to fight those who created it.”
- From the book ‘a cult of chaos’
Roleplay: Roleplaying as a Hexer is a very rewarding experience in Skyrim, the code of life is simple, inspired by that of Witchers and Demonhunter, but with a Tamrielic twist; there are a ton of undead-hunting quests and with Dawnguard you have an entire faction to follow. Besides, The Hexer is not wholly good, far from in fact, and therefore you are in no way obliged to follow the law. Hexers are also known to be power-hungry, constantly seeking more destructive ways to defy the Daedric princes and slay their minions. All in all you should strive to find a balance between good and evil when playing a Hexer.
- Quests: Main Quest, Collage of Winterhold, Dawnguard
- Hunts: Laid to Rest, The Man Who Cried Wolf, The Wolf Queen Awakened, Ancestral Worship, Evil in Waiting.
Demonfire Unleashed
Hexers are famous (or rather infamous) for their secret techniques that allow them to utilise and master “demonfire” - destructive fire-magic so potent it can melt stone and metal in a heartbeat. Therefore a Hexer’s greatest asset is his fire-mastery abilities. Unlike most other builds that make use of the aspect of terror and augmented flames combination, for some seriously powerful fire-spells, I didn’t want to completely abuse the damage boost effect. Therefore I decided to use the “demonfire” combo in a much more subtle way - by utilising it to empower the flame cloak spell for a ton of passive damage.
If you still haven't understood what the aspect of terror + augmented flames combo is, it’s when you select the perk “aspect of terror” in the illusion skill tree and the “augmented flames” perks from the destruction tree. Aspect of terror boosts the effectiveness of all fear spells by 10 levels, but since fire spells also count as fear spells (enemies flee when set aflame and on low life) it boosts the damage of all fire spells by 10 damage. Combine this with 2 out of 2 augmented flames for another 50% damage boost, and you’ve got one hell of a powerful pyromancer.
Once all relevant perks have been placed, you are ready to dual cast flame cloak for a whopping 22 damage per sec for 60 sec. Thats 1320 damage over 60 seconds! Combine this with the physical damage from your two-handed sword and enchanting damage, and you have a character that kicks ass without equal.
- Spells: Flame Cloak, Flames, Oak- to Ebonyflesh, Frenzy type spells, Fear type spells, Fast Healing, Sun Fire, Stendarr’s Aura, Turn Undead, Vampire’s Bane.
Gameplay
The gameplay of The Hexer requires patience and careful planning to truly master. Remember that your flesh-spells and cleverly timed blocks, are of the essence in order to stay alive. The quick reflexes perk offers a great way to disrupt enemy attacks and unleash the true power of two-handed weaponry - stagger. In Skyrim a weapons weight determines how fast (or slow) the weapon swings, and how much a successful hit will stagger. Therefore power attacking with a two-handed weapon will have a much more drastic effect than power attacking with a one handed weapon - often leaving enemies sitting flat on their bum and defenceless. Thus a simple, but great, combination to use in combat is; a bash as the enemy power attacks, then an ordinary attack as they recover from the stagger, leading into a power attack of your own (staggering the enemy once more) and finally one or two attacks more for the finish.
As far as magic concerned, you will typically start off by casting a flesh spell (dual cast if you have the magicka pool) followed by a demonfire-charged flame cloak. I also found illusion to be a very powerful asset to this build as it allows us to create a great deal of confusion on the battlefield, softening up the enemies, before we enter the fray ourselves. Therefore it’s typically a good idea to cast a frenzy spell (or two) on the most problematic enemies and then (critically) charge into battle afterwards.
Two-handed and magic has always been challenging to combine without ruining the flow of a build. This is due to the slowness of drawing, sheathing and switching between a greatsword and a spell (any spell). To tackle this major weakness, I specifically designed the build to only utilise “long term spells”. You see, this build only really makes use of lasting spells such as flesh-spells, fear- and frenzy-spells and flame cloaks, which all have the major advantage that they can be cast in advance and last for at least one minute. However, if a fight should drag on and last longer than your flame cloak and iron flesh, all you have to do is fear your foes (by either using Dismay or a fear spell). Retreat. And cast the spells again to renew their durations.
All in all The Hexer offers a great deal of crowd control, synergy between skills and spells and most important of all, tons of fun.
Stat Placement:
Health-1 / Magicka-3 / Stamina-0
Special Moves
The Unholy Shall Burn
Hexers have mastered the art of slaying the undead and often sell those skills for coin or other riches. Silver Greatsword + Fire Enchantment + Stendarr’s Aura
Window of Peace
Escape any sticky situation by causing your enemies to flee, allowing you a limited window of time where you can ready yourself for one more onslaught. Dismay + Fast Healing
Demon’s Breath
What better way to fight the unholy, than to engulf yourself in their own demon-charged flames and watch them burn whilst you flood the battlefield in fire? Aspect of Terror + Fire Breath + Flame Cloak + Flames
Righteous Shield
The righteous man will go unhurt - protect yourself from the darkness with holy magics forged in the high heavens themselves. Lord Stone + Ebonyflesh + Mage Armor + Magic Resist + Racial Power
Aspect of Chaos
Unleash the full force of your holy and hellish powers at the same moment and watch all flee before you in your blazing chaotic glory. Demon’s Breath + Righteous Shield + Dragon Aspect
Click The Icon and See Dragons Fight!
