Welcome, readers, to my Holds contest build. I present....
“In old Solitude folklore, there is tell of a being known only as The Wolf Knight. The story goes, that he, or she, was one of the greatest knights of Solitude, the personal champion of the High Queen Bjorna Sky-Shaker. On one night, he was sent to a small village to deal with a marauding band of werewolves. When he got to the town, he was welcomed with open arms, and given lodgings. Later, he discovered werewolves prowling the street, and drew his blade. He found they were intelligent, and were in fact, the very villagers he had met earlier. Horrified, he slew as many as he could, before succumbing to his wounds. With lycanthropy in his veins, he believed himself damned. Though Mara and Akatosh appeared, granting him immortality, and the blood of Dov. Legend states he now protects Solitude, a man by day, a fierce wolf at night....”
-Legends and Folktales of Old Solitude, by Harkin Blood-Seer.
The character build was quite interesting. All too often, werewolf characters tend to go on mass slaughterfets of civilians, but with this build, I strove to make my character a noble, tamed wolf, one who unleashes his fury on those who would harm the people of Solitude. With a wolf like aesthetic, you got yourself a lycan knight.
Race: Nord Werewolf. Not only does it fit the lore a bit, but the increased resistance to frost, and the Battle Cry Greater power acting as a human version of a howl. Give him a knightly look, except a bit more weathered.
Stat Spread: 1/3/2 in Magicka, Health, and Stamina.
Standing Stone: The Lord, the extra magic resistance helps out in survivability.
Major Skills: One-Handed, Heavy Armor, Speech, Destruction
Minor Skills: Smithing
Recommended Quests-Main Quests, Companions, Ill Met by Moonlight, Dragonborn, Dawnguard, Man Who Cried Wolf, Wolf Queen Awakened, Civil War (Imperials)
Gameplay
The gameplay for this build is that of a rather ruthless knight. Whereas most knights would spare a surrendering opponent, this character is the opposite. If a bandit or whatnot says the common “I yield! I yield!” or anything along those lines, don’t listen. Blast them with some shock magic, or cut them down with a flaming sword.
This character rarely uses sneak attacks, prefering to charge at his foes, blade and spells swirling.
Your main patrol area should, obviously, be Haafinger. From Riverwood, where you will, as usual for me, take Faendel, to provide suppressing fire, and travel to Solitude. Do The Man who Cried Wolf, and Wolf Queen Awakened, and any misc quests around.
After joining the Companions, and becoming a Werewolf, head to Falkreath, and do Ill Met by Moonlight. The Werewolf power will be used against worthy, tough opponents, or groups.
The two places you will live are in the Blue Palace, and Proudspire Manor.
“If the leader cries out, his whole pack would come to savage his attackers”
Skills:
One-Handed: The Wolf Knights wields his blessed blade as well as he does his lycan claws.
Heavy Armor-Like many knights before him, armor forged of strong, Nordic steel protects him from most wounds.
Destruction-His father, a skilled warmage, trained him in the arts of destruction, his forte being lightning spells.
Smithing-While not a master, and with little knowledge of making anything aside from jewelry, the Wolf Knight still knows how to maintain and improve his weapons and armor.
Speech-His aunt, an orator, taught him the ways of having a silver tongue, and haggling.
Equipment
Wolf Armor
Wolf Boots
Wolf Helmet
The Wolfblade (Skyforge Steel Sword enchanted with Fire Damage)
Shield of Solitude
Ring of Hircine
Amulet of Talos
Roleplay
When walking about Solitude, always be dressed in your armor, sans helmet, or Fine Clothing/Merchant’s Clothing (The blue one)
If you have a horse, try and keep it in a stable.
Your follower is your squire, outfit them in decent weapons and armor. When you feel they are ready, upgrade them to a fellow knight.
If you do a crime, pray at the Temple of the Eight in Solitude.
Try and be respectful to everyone, yes, this includes Nazeem and the Thalmor
Thanks for reading!
Welcome, readers, to my Holds contest build. I present....
“In old Solitude folklore, there is tell of a being known only as The Wolf Knight. The story goes, that he, or she, was one of the greatest knights of Solitude, the personal champion of the High Queen Bjorna Sky-Shaker. On one night, he was sent to a small village to deal with a marauding band of werewolves. When he got to the town, he was welcomed with open arms, and given lodgings. Later, he discovered werewolves prowling the street, and drew his blade. He found they were intelligent, and were in fact, the very villagers he had met earlier. Horrified, he slew as many as he could, before succumbing to his wounds. With lycanthropy in his veins, he believed himself damned. Though Mara and Akatosh appeared, granting him immortality, and the blood of Dov. Legend states he now protects Solitude, a man by day, a fierce wolf at night....”
-Legends and Folktales of Old Solitude, by Harkin Blood-Seer.
The character build was quite interesting. All too often, werewolf characters tend to go on mass slaughterfets of civilians, but with this build, I strove to make my character a noble, tamed wolf, one who unleashes his fury on those who would harm the people of Solitude. With a wolf like aesthetic, you got yourself a lycan knight.
Race: Nord Werewolf. Not only does it fit the lore a bit, but the increased resistance to frost, and the Battle Cry Greater power acting as a human version of a howl. Give him a knightly look, except a bit more weathered.
Stat Spread: 1/3/2 in Magicka, Health, and Stamina.
Standing Stone: The Lord, the extra magic resistance helps out in survivability.
Major Skills: One-Handed, Heavy Armor, Speech, Destruction
Minor Skills: Smithing
Recommended Quests-Main Quests, Companions, Ill Met by Moonlight, Dragonborn, Dawnguard, Man Who Cried Wolf, Wolf Queen Awakened, Civil War (Imperials)
Gameplay
The gameplay for this build is that of a rather ruthless knight. Whereas most knights would spare a surrendering opponent, this character is the opposite. If a bandit or whatnot says the common “I yield! I yield!” or anything along those lines, don’t listen. Blast them with some shock magic, or cut them down with a flaming sword.
This character rarely uses sneak attacks, prefering to charge at his foes, blade and spells swirling.
Your main patrol area should, obviously, be Haafinger. From Riverwood, where you will, as usual for me, take Faendel, to provide suppressing fire, and travel to Solitude. Do The Man who Cried Wolf, and Wolf Queen Awakened, and any misc quests around.
After joining the Companions, and becoming a Werewolf, head to Falkreath, and do Ill Met by Moonlight. The Werewolf power will be used against worthy, tough opponents, or groups.
The two places you will live are in the Blue Palace, and Proudspire Manor.
“If the leader cries out, his whole pack would come to savage his attackers”
Skills:
One-Handed: The Wolf Knights wields his blessed blade as well as he does his lycan claws.
Heavy Armor-Like many knights before him, armor forged of strong, Nordic steel protects him from most wounds.
Destruction-His father, a skilled warmage, trained him in the arts of destruction, his forte being lightning spells.
Smithing-While not a master, and with little knowledge of making anything aside from jewelry, the Wolf Knight still knows how to maintain and improve his weapons and armor.
Speech-His aunt, an orator, taught him the ways of having a silver tongue, and haggling.
Equipment
Wolf Armor
Wolf Boots
Wolf Helmet
The Wolfblade (Skyforge Steel Sword enchanted with Fire Damage)
Shield of Solitude
Ring of Hircine
Amulet of Talos
Roleplay
When walking about Solitude, always be dressed in your armor, sans helmet, or Fine Clothing/Merchant’s Clothing (The blue one)
If you have a horse, try and keep it in a stable.
Your follower is your squire, outfit them in decent weapons and armor. When you feel they are ready, upgrade them to a fellow knight.
If you do a crime, pray at the Temple of the Eight in Solitude.
Try and be respectful to everyone, yes, this includes Nazeem and the Thalmor
Thanks for reading!
I have to admit, Chris, this is my least favourite build of yours. Simply put, this is very short and doesn't have the appeal or effort I would expect from a contest build. It also feels very rushed and it probably the shortest build in the contest as of yet. Please take these crtitiscms lightly as I am simply trying to lend a hand to my fellow builder
To start off with, there are several parts that feel contradictory. In the background and intro, you state that this build is "a noble knight", yet in gameplay, you also state that you are a "ruthless knight". Ruthless and noble don't really go hand-in-hand. Your backstory doesn't make much sense to me, ie, why would a town of werewolves call for a knight to come deal with a werewolf in their town? Also, why would Akatosh and Mara make a WEREWOLF immortal? While it makes sense for your gameplay, it doesn't make sense in the lore/backstory.
Speaking of gameplay, I would go much more in detail as some of it doesn't make a lot of sense. How did you fight dragons? Mages? Archers? All you state is that you don't yield to bandits and to use shock magic and a 'flaming sword'. I also noticed that you didn't take the werewolf perks at all, any reason for that? That makes me feel that the lycanthropy is just tacked on to make this build fit Solitude even more, while in reality it makes it feel less like it fits the Hold. Nord werewolves are pretty stereotyped too and I felt like an Imperial would fit the Hold much more.
Speaking of knights, does Skyrim and the Nords even have knights? Just a curious thought.
Back to perks, this feels very mixed. Was there a reason for not taking Block at all, despite using a shield? You missed out on a lot of awesome perks here, which would have made for an even more interesting concept, in my honest opinion. Knights did typically use shields to block, parry and deflect blows from their armor when against other warriors. They are very defensive and I felt like this build just has the knight title slapped on to make it a morally good aligned character. If I were you, I would revamp this and emphasis your defensiveness over your offensiveness to really sell this more!
Also, on skills, this is something I've noticed in a lot of your builds and you don't really explain how to use these skills and instead state which family member taught him which skills. Readers don't really care for the background info, they just want to know HOW to use a skill. For example, you could explain that you chose to use a sword with One-Handed as it fits the knight stereotype. I also found in interesting that you perked Augmented Flames and Augmented Shock, yet stated that you used shock spells exclusively. Was this strictly for enchanting your sword with? If so, I would have perked enchanting and that to get more benefit because I do not think the boost with enchanting is worth it, in my opinion.
I do like your equipment choice, but Wolf Armor isn't very knightly and I would have gone with a full set of Steel Plate with the Heavy Dawnguard helmet instead. You don't have gauntlets listed, is that intentional? Also, what level did you grab the shield at? It's not worth it at lower levels so I usually wait to grab it at higher levels. Might be worth it to mention when you grabbed it for those wishing to play it.
I also noticed you never mentioned shouts and yet use the Amulet of Talos. Is that strictly for a roleplay reason or did you just have it? Shouts-wise, I would have grabbed Unrelenting Force, Elemental Fury (if you left your sword unenchanted, of course) and Battle Fury for your squire!
Roleplay is very basic, nothing really good or bad to say here. Which follow did you find yourself using? Erik the Slayer and some of the Companion whelps immediately jump at me for excellent choices! Also, how did you live in the Blue Palace?
Now, I apologies for the length of this essay comment but I felt like this was built up after reading your builds over the last few months. I encourage you to try out these ideas and hopefully, your past, present and future builds will be better then ever before!
This became way longer then expected....
I have to admit, Chris, this is my least favourite build of yours. Simply put, this is very short and doesn't have the appeal or effort I would expect from a contest build. It also feels very rushed and it probably the shortest build in the contest as of yet. Please take these crtitiscms lightly as I am simply trying to lend a hand to my fellow builder
To start off with, there are several parts that feel contradictory. In the background and intro, you state that this build is "a noble knight", yet in gameplay, you also state that you are a "ruthless knight". Ruthless and noble don't really go hand-in-hand. Your backstory doesn't make much sense to me, ie, why would a town of werewolves call for a knight to come deal with a werewolf in their town? Also, why would Akatosh and Mara make a WEREWOLF immortal? While it makes sense for your gameplay, it doesn't make sense in the lore/backstory.
Speaking of gameplay, I would go much more in detail as some of it doesn't make a lot of sense. How did you fight dragons? Mages? Archers? All you state is that you don't yield to bandits and to use shock magic and a 'flaming sword'. I also noticed that you didn't take the werewolf perks at all, any reason for that? That makes me feel that the lycanthropy is just tacked on to make this build fit Solitude even more, while in reality it makes it feel less like it fits the Hold. Nord werewolves are pretty stereotyped too and I felt like an Imperial would fit the Hold much more.
Speaking of knights, does Skyrim and the Nords even have knights? Just a curious thought.
Back to perks, this feels very mixed. Was there a reason for not taking Block at all, despite using a shield? You missed out on a lot of awesome perks here, which would have made for an even more interesting concept, in my honest opinion. Knights did typically use shields to block, parry and deflect blows from their armor when against other warriors. They are very defensive and I felt like this build just has the knight title slapped on to make it a morally good aligned character. If I were you, I would revamp this and emphasis your defensiveness over your offensiveness to really sell this more!
Also, on skills, this is something I've noticed in a lot of your builds and you don't really explain how to use these skills and instead state which family member taught him which skills. Readers don't really care for the background info, they just want to know HOW to use a skill. For example, you could explain that you chose to use a sword with One-Handed as it fits the knight stereotype. I also found in interesting that you perked Augmented Flames and Augmented Shock, yet stated that you used shock spells exclusively. Was this strictly for enchanting your sword with? If so, I would have perked enchanting and that to get more benefit because I do not think the boost with enchanting is worth it, in my opinion.
I do like your equipment choice, but Wolf Armor isn't very knightly and I would have gone with a full set of Steel Plate with the Heavy Dawnguard helmet instead. You don't have gauntlets listed, is that intentional? Also, what level did you grab the shield at? It's not worth it at lower levels so I usually wait to grab it at higher levels. Might be worth it to mention when you grabbed it for those wishing to play it.
I also noticed you never mentioned shouts and yet use the Amulet of Talos. Is that strictly for a roleplay reason or did you just have it? Shouts-wise, I would have grabbed Unrelenting Force, Elemental Fury (if you left your sword unenchanted, of course) and Battle Fury for your squire!
Roleplay is very basic, nothing really good or bad to say here. Which follow did you find yourself using? Erik the Slayer and some of the Companion whelps immediately jump at me for excellent choices! Also, how did you live in the Blue Palace?
Now, I apologies for the length of this essay comment but I felt like this was built up after reading your builds over the last few months. I encourage you to try out these ideas and hopefully, your past, present and future builds will be better then ever before!
This became way longer then expected....
So... Did you not write this beforehand? If I were you, I would have waited until you got back and polish this up further. And to be honest, that really doesn't explain some of the issues I had with the build itself but I guess that is fine.
Did you also playtest? Quite curious.
So... Did you not write this beforehand? If I were you, I would have waited until you got back and polish this up further. And to be honest, that really doesn't explain some of the issues I had with the build itself but I guess that is fine.
Did you also playtest? Quite curious.