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Event Build: The Animancer

Tags: #Character Build Supporter  #Race:Breton  #Rank:Event Recognized  #Event:Crossworlds2 
  • Member
    December 8, 2015

    Hello everyone and welcome to our Crossworlds entry build! This was a collab from The End of The Swamp (Omega and ScampDung). This build was aimed to recreate one of our favourite mages and bring him to skyrim so without further ado let’s get to it!

     Race: Breton, not because of the boost in conjuration. This time, it’s all about the other skill boosts + the amazing Dragonskin power!

    Stone: The Lord Stone. Because mages wear no armor, the extra protection is more than welcome!

    Stats Distribution: 3/2/1 in Magicka/Health/Stamina. Not only is stamina quite important for carrying alchemical ingredients around, but also for providing mobility in battle. You will take some blows in battle now and then, so you want to be prepared for that! And the 3 points in magicka is a must have for every mage worthy of your time!

    Shouts: Kyne’s Peace, Animal Allegiance, Clear Skies, Ice Form.

    The Animancer was caught with some Stormcloaks at the border of Skyrim. After escaping death because of the attack of a dragon, he managed to get himself to Whiterun, where he got called ‘Dragonborn’, after helping the locals with their dragon problem. It turns out that the Greybeards called for him, in order to learn him about the way of the voice, and Anduin, the firstborn of Akatosh. However, during his travels, he found himself consumed by nature, and everything that lived in it. After a while, he was so consumed by his love for nature, that he didn’t do anything besides helping and finding the power needed to preserve nature. And also, after meeting the Dawnguard, he decided that he would get rid of everything undead, as it went in against the rules of nature.

     Alchemy: Being isolated in nature for so long, The Animancer has mastered the skill of combining alchemical ingredients into useful potions. He refuses to use anything coming from an animal, as he finds this to be one of the biggest insults towards nature. When in great need, and no other options are open, he occasionally tends to take things from animals that have been dead for a long time.

    Illusion: Our first skill that will buff your animal companions in combat! Not only does it buff up your animal friends, it also keeps enemies away from you!

    Restoration: The second obvious! By healing your friends in battle, and protecting them from undead, this skill becomes an incredible tool in combat.

      Alternation: When your animal friends have reached their limit, you need to be at least able to protect yourself! And on the side you can also provide some Crowd Control to lower the pressure on your friends, especially in combination with the Ice Form shout.

    Enchanting: Because you’re still a mage, you’ve acquired the knowledge of basic enchanting, allowing you to magically enhance your equipment with the power of nature.

    Destruction: Using frost spells, you are able to perform some basic spells. None of them are really powerful, but they keep you alive.

    For the Perk Spread, you'll find the level 45 Perk Spread here. These are the perks to aim for in the end, you want the focus on the Alternation and Restoration tree, and slowly build up the Illusion one. The Destruction and Enchanting ones are really only usefull early on, before taking Augmented Frost.

    Most of the equipment used comes naturally. Nothing of it is really hard to find, thus making it fairly easy to acquire everything you need to protect nature! The enchantments you use on your clothes are really up to you. I personally used Fortify Illusion/Restoration, Magicka Regen and Magicka. But you can really use anything you see fit.

    For weapons, we’ll be using the following. None of them are more important than the others, but the focus here are the Staff of Healing Hands and Mending, and the Animancer’s Scalpel.

    - The Animancer's Scalpel: A simple scalpel, used for healing his companions.  (This is just a knife, which can be found in Redwater Den and plenty other locations.)

    - Staff of Healing Hands

    - Staff of Mending

    - Staff of Courage

    - Staff of Rally

    As for clothing, we’ll be using the Skaal set. These fit the theme of a mage, devoured by nature. A full set of Skaal equipment can be found in Falbtharz(from the corpse of Eydis) or Highpoint Tower (Next to a skeleton on the ledge above the tunnel past the alchemy lab below highpoint tower). Before that, you can use any robes at the start. The Apprentice Robes of Restoration are a good alternative early on.

    He may look like an old man with a stick, but trust me. That's when his friends aren't around...

     When playing The Animancer, you play the role of a support. Because of your limited arsenal of Destruction spells, and no armor, you are forced to focus on letting your animal companions take the agro and keep them alive. Usually this consists of using your Healing Hands or Mending on them, with Courage or a higher tier Illusion spell in the other hand. This way you can keep them both buffed up and alive at the same time!

    Another important thing to note here, is that you have Alchemy as well! By using your poisons on your animal friends, you minimalize the damage they take because of the Animancer’s Scalpel. You also heal them up and increase their health, making them even more indestructible! This allows you to take a break from healing duty and throw out a Paralyze spell or even some Frost spells. Now before we head further, let’s have a look at the potions used and the friends that will be keeping you company!

     

     

     

     

    The Armored Battle Troll: These guys are a force to be reckoned with, they are massive, armored and can deal some serious damage, especially with your help! You can find your friend at Fort Dawnguard from Level 10. Before that, you can free to dog at Markarth to keep you company.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Barbas: He may be annoying according to some people, but you find this talking dog amazing. You can get him by starting Clavicus Vile’s quest and simply never completing it. This gives you an animal companion that is an essential character and will, thus, never die.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Nature's Remedy:

    Hanging Moss + Blue Mountain Flower = 100% Magica reduction  + Fortify health

    A remedy that heals the Animancer's companion, and makes them stronger than before.

     

     

     

     

    Preperation Catalyst:
    Deathbell + Bleeding Crown = Weakness to Poison

    A Catalyst, made to speed up and increase the potency of Nature's Remedy.

     

     

     

    Animancer's Draught: 
    Mora Tapinella + Scaly Pholiota = Fortify Illusion + Fortify Stamina Regen

    A draught that strengthens The Animancer, allowing him to strengthen his companion aswell.

     

    Animancer's Touch:

    Preperation Catalyst + Nature's Remedy + Concentrated poison perk.

    Using the Animancer’s Scalpel, The Animancer injects your follower with the Preperation Catalysttwice. Making the second injection even stronger. Then, he injects them with Nature's Remedy by hitting them twice, this heals the companion by a significant amount, and increases their health.

    Animancer's Call:

    Animancer's Draught + Courage/call to arms/rally

    The animancer drinks a potion, strengthening him and increasing his Illusion skills, to enchance his friend’s performance in battle even further!

    When playing The Animancer, you are devoured by the idea of protecting nature. This should always be the biggest factor to consider when making choices. It's for this very reason that you never use any ingrediënts for Alchemy that are found by slaying a living creature. The Only exception is creatures that are already dead, but only if you are in serious trouble. The other thing that should be remembered is to not use anything that comes from undead. You’re no paladin, but you hate undead just as much as they do. They are against nature’s law and thus deserve to be executed without mercy! You should also take the agro when your companions are in trouble. You can simply wait for them to recover while you heal them (forget dealing damage get them back up!). If they are back up, you can simply use a fear spell to get them away from you. Your animals are always your best friend, thus you're ought to protect them to your full potential.The key quests are the following ones:

    The Dawnguard: Vampires, Draugr, Necromancy, all the same. They are vile things and thus must be taken care of!

    The Blessings of Nature: Help out Danica Pure-Spring revive the Gildergreen tree! It's a part of nature thus you are ought to protect and restore it! You also get access to restoration training, which could help you out a lot to keep your friends healthy.

    The Main Quest: Before getting devoured by nature, you once served the purpose of defeating Alduin, up until the point where you find Alduin’s wall… only to never return.

    Dragonborn: Miraak is a dangerous man who defiles nature by absorbing the minds of living people! He is a threat that must be taken down! You also learn to strengthen your bonds with nature from the Skaal.

    To sum up the roleplay aspects, here are the key ones that you should always keep in mind while playing this build!

    • Your companions are your friends, treat them as such!
    • Never desecrate a dead creatures body, it's against Nature's Law!
    • Undead such as Draugr and Vampires are vile creatures, they are to be purged!
    • Necromancers are even worse than Undead, they are also to be purged!
    • Never, ever skin an animal! Only true cruel people do this!
    • When facing a Spriggan, simply walk away. They are only trying to help you out with your job of protecting Nature.
    • Every person who defiles nature is to be dealt with the same way as Undead.

    Now that you've gotten the hang of how this character thinks, it's time to close the build.

    And that was it for the first Crossworlds entry of The End of the Swamp. I must say that it was an absolute pleasure working with ScampDung and I hope you enjoy our take on Radagast The Brown as much as we did skyrimizing him! 

  • December 8, 2015

    Great to see a new Supporter build on the site, I love the use of Poisons with Positive Effects, and the usage of Animals as such cool companions. I'll also say that you did an excellent job of converting Radagast into Skyrim, though I do think the Roleplay could have been expanded on a little bit more overall. 

    Still a very solid  build which gets a +1 from me (Oh and great job on the presentation) 

  • Member
    December 8, 2015

    Thanks for your kind words Dragonborn! I was originally planning on adding more to the roleplay, but as I haven't had the time to really delve into it yet, I will probably do this somewhere this week. 

  • December 8, 2015

    Cool, let me know if/when you do and I'll drop by again (with a new comment so it's a guaranteed free bump ).

  • Member
    December 8, 2015
    If only we could be included Radagast's sleigh!
  • Member
    December 8, 2015
    Thanks for the positive feedback!
  • Member
    December 8, 2015

    A very good crossworld build! Such an interesting character, I do wonder if there is more to be done in the RP write up, but an easy +1. Very well done and I love the dual poison buffing.

  • Member
    December 8, 2015

    Very nice druid/support build :) Just a small thing: have you guys considered implementing this trick?

  • Member
    December 8, 2015
    It's a kinda shamanistic build. I love it
  • Member
    December 8, 2015
    I sugest using Nettlebane instead of a knife because it's material is older than metal itself and it is bound to a nature-themed quest, where you could also get a spriggan for the ultimate druid-guide. It's dmg may be higher but I dont think 5 dmg difference is too much.
    Nice build :).