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Character Build: The Slide

Tags: #Character Build Mage  #Character Build Illusionist  #Character Build Vampire  #Rank:Recognized  #Race:Altmer  #Manik 
  • Member
    February 27, 2016

    Greetings everyone. I have some great fun for you all today. I wanted to create a build that used possession and the souls of her enemies to accomplish her goals. The possession part was easy enough thanks to Illusion magic. I did however run into a problem because there is only so much one can do in Skyrim with souls. So I asked myself, what exactly is a soul. After some thought I came to the conclusion that It is someone’s vital essence, which in Skyrim would be their health magicka and stamina reserves. That lead me down a path to consider absorbing as much of an enemies vital essence as possible. So maniacs I now present to you.

    Until that day, you must believe and be patient. Hide in your caves, in your ruined forts, in your secret lairs. Raise your minions, summon your servants, cast your spells. Answer the call of the Order when you are needed. Watch and listen.

     -From Necromancers Moon

    Pain, so much pain, writhing, twisting, burning, freezing. “What the hell are these mages doing to me?” Under the Necromancers moon a young Altmer cried out. She cried out with all her strength, but there was no one who could help her. These people wanted to use her as a weapon; they were tearing at her soul and putting something else back in its place.  The pain was so great she begged for death, but on this day death was not that kind. She could hear them chanting and laughing, indulging in a darkness that seemed to be all around them- a living, breathing presence that would surely kill them all. Just when she thought the sweet release that only death could provide, she saw on the horizon a glimmer of light; the sun was rising.

    The pain vanished. Gasping for air she tried to gather her senses. Panting, she looked, around taking in her surroundings. She couldn’t believe her eyes, Mannimarco, the King of Worms stood before her. Mannimarco showed the cruelest smirk the young girl had ever seen, and then said, “You are the first one to survive the ritual, and now you belong to me, child. You will be my weapon and obey my every command.”  Terrified, the young girl tried to move and surprisingly found it very easy, as if her strength had not been entirely drained. She looked into the empty, dead eyes of the man- if you could call him that- that stood before her. Mannimarco seemed pleased.

    With a look of radiant joy The King of Worms said, “Travel to Skyrim and bring terror to the hearts of the people, wreak havoc in my name, and strike a fatal blow against the decaying empire.” At once she was off, almost as if she had no free will while in his presence. Mannimarco’s apprentice looked to his master and said, “My lord, what if she ever discovers her full potential?” With a chuckle and a shrug The King of Worms replied, “If only we were so lucky.”Race: Female Altmer Vampire Lord

    Appearance: Dark Hair, Red tint and shadow around the eyes.

    Stone: Advanced Atronach

    Stats: 2/2/0

    Major Skills: Conjuration, Illusion, Enchanting, Restoration

    Minor Skills: Alteration, Alchemy, One Handed and Destruction.

    Powers:  Marked for Death, Soul Tear, Bend Will, Drain Vitality Seeker of Shadows, Secret of Arcana

    Quests: The Black Star,The Dark Brotherhood, Blood on the Ice,  Dawnguard, Black Books, Main Quest, Radiant Volkihar Quests. The College of Winterhold (Only for master level spells access, no need to complete at all.)

    The Slide is most certainly a mage but with a twist. Everything The Slide does is not necessarily because of natural gifts but fueled by the souls of her enemies. A gift given by the King of Worms himself. There was no need to perk light armor as we will constantly be absorbing the health of our enemies, allowing us to tank our way through just about anything Skyrim can throw at us.

    The Slide was inspired by my love for The Sword of Truth series and one of the concepts in the series. Often times it is stated that great wizards must be able to use people. Sometimes "using" means to change what someone is at their very core. Hence the backstory as what I imagine such a ritual may have been like. The Slide is someone who has magic of their own but has vampire like tendencies. Or to better explain, generally leeches energy from those around a Slide.

    Another huge part in this build was the goal to push illusion magic far beyond it's normal limits. Vampirism grants a bit of aid to that by itself. Potions of Fortify Illusions combined with this boost and the appropriate perks will give us control over pretty much any enemies we will face. All in all the results I was able to get with this playthrough were absolutely amazing.

    Harkon's sword is the physical centerpiece of the build. This is an awe inspiring weapon when, wielded by a vampire. It absorbs 15 points of health, magic, and stamina which allows us to get really up close and personal, despite our low armor rating, to 'feed' on that vital essence.. The amount of absorption can be further augmented by our alchemy skill via fortify destruction potions allowing us to really wreck shop. The gauntlets, armor, and circlet are mainly to reduce spell cost in the early game. Once extra effect is taken, we can have even more cost reduction, making the most out of our impressive magic pool. I chose to go this route so I could build up a truly daunting health pool which will be important later on.Illusion and Conjuration spells can get really greedy when it comes draining our magic reserves, even with some cost reduction. My counter to that was the awe inspiring combination of the Altmer's natural +50 magic, the +50 magic from the Necromancers Amulet, +100 magic from the ring of Erudite, and yet another +100 magic from the Advanced Atronach stone. In total folks, that is an extra 300 magic for us to have and to hold just like the darkness in our own soul. Seriously, who wouldn't want end game stats at 540-490. So that leaves us with only one piece of equipment unaccounted for.

    I chose the shrouded boots for the muffled enchantment which combines with the vampire bonuses to sneak. As well as the muffle spell, it gives us another tool in the box without having to place perks in sneak.
    At first glance, I know some of you have to be thinking, "You're perking 8 different skills!!!!" Well, yes, I am. You see, in order to possess our enemies, no matter who they are, the Illusion school eats perks like a fat kid eats cake. However, in the end it is well worth it to posses a Draugr Deathlord and watch as he annihilates all of his flunkies. My main go to spells here were Frenzy and Mayhem, depending on how cruel you want to be. Calm spells work well if you get into trouble and need to call a time out. I will say though that I found very little use for fear spells. She's a lazy vamp. This one does not like to have to chase down her breakfast,

    Restoration is used, not only for healing ourselves, but our undead and the soon to be discussed soul tap ability. Plus we can offset some of the stunted magic regeneration from the advanced atronach.

    While I hate having to use two crafting skills, it is necessary in order to obtain that awesome power known as the Advanced Atronach. While this trick is nothing new, and just in case you have never heard of it, using alchemy via fortify restoration potions allows us to manipulate the Atronach Stone. This boosts the effects from +50 Magic, +50% Absorption, and -50% Magic regeneration to 100%. Now the best method I have found to pull this off is to "stack" Restoration potions. Your target magnitude should be right at 67% on each. For the first Small Antlers and a salt pile, and the second Abecean Longfin, salt pile and white cap. You see both potions have the fortify restoration property, but due to the second one having an additional effect they will stack.Conjuration is obviously used for manipulating the souls of our fallen enemies, plus, with our low armor rating, they provide a bit of defense along with being able to dish out some pain. A little necromanic healing goes a long way to keeping them in the fight and you from the front lines. Originally my idea was to permanently raise draugr Deathlords for my thralls. For what ever reason, they count as creatures, so you can't use dead thrall on them. With some experimentation, I would suggest either vampires, as they can cast spells and raise more minions, or hitting up the Atronach Forge for some Dremora slaves.

    Alteration comes through big time by increasing our AR in tough battles, providing a key component to our most sinister ritual, and allowing us to see the essence of nearby living and dead things.

    Destruction is both for damage dealing and crowd control. The adept level spell Chain Lighting is capable of stagger locking large groups of enemies, while dealing out crazy damage on a large scale. Dual Cast Ice Storm is also great for tight spaces when facing a group of charging enemies.

    Last, and in the case least One handed was taken in order to push up the physical damage of Harkon's sword.

    Soul Tap - All those scrolls of Guardian Circle laying around that never find a good use. Well here we have it. If you have already used highborn for the day but still need a bit more magic. Use either one and your spell absorption will very quickly refill your magic pool.

    The Electric Soul Slide -  Soul Trap+Paralyze+Wall Of Storms+Black Soul gem+Dead Thrall. This is a replication of the ritual that was used on us. This can only be preformed outside under the moon.

    Life Drain - Due to necromage the spell equilibrium can restore our magic reserves much more effectively to continue on in open combat. With Blood of the Ancients, and Stage 4 Vampirism we can directly drain a good chunk of health, magic, and stamina from our enemies. Combine this with Drain Vitality and watch the worst of the worst shrivel and wilt before your eyes.

    Mass Possession - Potion of Fortify Illusion+Invisibility+Sneak into the middle of a large group of enemies+Mayhem. When you hit this number you can just kick bake drink some mead, eat a sweet role maybe, and enjoy the ensuing blood bath.

    While taken mainly for the Advanced Atronach there is no reason we can't use our alchemy skills to give us even more tools in our shed. Speaking of I highly recommend a small Hearth Fire home just to grow some of the ingredients. The following are some of my personal favorites. Drink deeply and dream my friends.

    Shadow Water - Glowing Mushroom+Nightshade+Wheat. This little dandy is awesome for when all else fails and you must engage in hand to hand combat. The effects are fortify health and fortify destruction. Boosting both your health pool and the damage done by Harkon's sword.

    Ancient Deception - Dwarven Oil and Taproot - Fortify Illusion making the spells stronger and buffing your magicka regeneration never hurts.

    • Pick up normal vampirism as early as you can. I recommend Mara's Eye Pond close to Windhelm.
    • Experiment with your powers as they grow, remember you care nothing for those that stand against you and they exist solely for your amusement.
    • Before raising a permanent thrall capture their soul, make it a cruel ritual. Some ingredients that I like to use are of course the black soul gem, some nightshade, void salts, maybe even a human heart. Get creative.
    • Your main mission in this build is causing the greatest harm you can to the empire. All those legion camps make for good practice for possessing your foes.
    • Once you "realize" the limitless potential you have fear no one, for now death, and pain can not touch you.
    • One of the most immersion breaking things can be grinding a crafting skill. Fortunately this character takes a sick almost erotic interest in capturing souls.
    • Only go out at night. The ritual made your powers dependent on the moon. During the day you are a normal everyday mortal

    In Conclusion

    I would first like to give a big thanks to Dragonborn1721 for the awesome artwork, as well as Lee Fiskills for letting me bounce some ideas around and proofreading for me. This was a great time and I sincerely hope you enjoy the concept and the gameplay. Don't forget to leave a like and a comment and let me know what you guys think. This everyone's favorite lunatic signing off!

  • Member
    February 28, 2016

    Looks like a good build. The bottom image throws the whole presentation off and the name is a bit weird, but I do like it 

  • Member
    February 28, 2016

    Thanks. Do you think I should drop the bottom image altogether or just move it up a bit?

  • Member
    February 28, 2016

    Change it. It's super out of place

  • February 28, 2016

    I actually quite like the bottom picture, other than the compass marker, I like seeing the character as the author designed it, and I think it fits fairly well. But it is up to you Manik, I can see why it might seem out of place here.

    Also, great to see this out Manik, I always love a Vampire Illusionist, and throw in Conjuration and you have me sold  As I said earlier int he Workshop, I love that you've managed to turn this slightly cliche Vampire into a really awesome build with a unique feel, definitely a +1 from me and I can't wait to see your next build.

  • Member
    February 28, 2016

    Nice!

  • Member
    February 28, 2016

    Thanks DB, Who knows what I'll do next. Maybe an Argonian.

  • Member
    February 28, 2016

    Thanks Lyall, glad you liked it.

  • Member
    February 28, 2016

    Nice job Manik, that first pic is sweet.

  • Member
    February 28, 2016

    Thanks John