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Character Build: The Fist of Malacath

Tags: #Werewolf  #Character Build Unarmed  #Character Build Werewolf  #Rank:Bloodworks  #Race:Orc  #Daedra  #Skyrim  #Unarmed  #Orc  #Handed  #Two  #Malacath  #Rage  #Armor  #Brawler  #Fist of Malacath  #Fists  #Glitch  #One  #Smithing  #Xbox 
  • Member
    April 7, 2016

    I've never actually made an Unarmed build before, as I'd preferred to play my builds with conventional weapons like swords and axes. I didn't really consider unarmed to be that viable, but after looking at a few unarmed builds, the idea of making one seemed like so much fun! So, without further due...

    I present to you...

    Born into the ranks of a small, isolated Orismer tribe, the Fist was raised from a young age not to take crap from anyone. Anyone who challenged him was beaten to a pulp; anyone who disrespected him had their head knocked clean from their shoulders. But as the Fist grew older, his tribe began to grow weaker. Everyone became concerned with their own well being; shying away from violence and danger. The Fist, however, could not accept this, and left to seek out new opponents to destroy. It was this brazen attitude that attracted the attention of Malacath, the Daedric Prince of  Curses, the Betrayed, and the Orcified.  Pleased with the Fist's violent ways, he demanded that the Fist become his new champion; on one condition. He must destroy his tribe, as they had grown weak and cowardly in Malacath's eyes. And so, the Fist did as he was commanded without question. He killed every member of his tribe with sheer ruthlessness and brutality, ridding Malacath of what he considered to be an embarassment to the Orismer. Upon the completion of Malacath's order, he was renamed "The Fist of Malacath". Now, the Fist's only goal in life is to rid the world of the weak, all while dedicating his life to the service of Malacath.

    Essentially what we have here is an Evil Brawler build. You're only going to be using your fists, so there are few specific perks/items you will need. Heavy armor is a must, as it gives access to a perk that augments unarmed damage. Also, finding and disenchanting the Gloves of the Pugilist will be important too, as that will be another source of damage. Luckily, there are a lot of decent armor choices early in the game, so getting this build started will not be much of a hassle. So! Let's take a look at the basic setup:

    The Setup:

    Race: Orismer. No servant of Malacath is of any other race, and Malacath would never choose a champion who isn't an Orc. Born with the Berserker Rage, the Fist has the ability to double his combat power while only taking half the amount of damage from enemy strikes. This is an invaluable ability, as the Fist can sometimes be overwhelmed in battles, and will need the damage boost to finish his opponents as quickly and as violently as possible. Also, the Fist gets a +10 bonus in Heavy armor, which is an extremely important skill.

    Special Trait/Ability: Lycanthropy. In the most rarest of events, sometimes the Fist's hands are simply not enough. The Fist craves power. He knows that power will always ensure victory. He purposely contracted Lycanthropy as a fail-safe. He can transform at will, and decimate his foes with fast claw attacks and high damage bites. As a werewolf, the Fist becomes virtually unstoppable.

    Stat Spread: 0 : 2 : 1 (Magicka, Health, Stamina) Health is going to be the most needed stat for the Fist, as he won't have the wide range of motion that most weapons have. He will need to jump from target to target, which will likely result in taking hits on all sides. Stamina isn't that important, as heavy attacks take valuable time to charge up, and the Fist could probably deal out two or three hits in the amount of time it takes to complete a heavy attack. Magicka isn't important on this build, as the Fist prefers to destroy his enemies with his bare hands.

    Standing Stone: At early levels, the Warrior stone is the best, as it offers a helpful boost in leveling combat stats. Once the Fist's stats have leveled up, he can switch over to the Lord stone, which offers a helpful armor and magicka defense percentage.

    Shouts: Elemental Fury, Slow Time, Dragonrend, Unrelenting Force, Dismay, Marked for Death

    Powers: Berserker Rage, Beast Form

    Equipment:

    Helm: None

    Necklace: Any (Fortify Unarmed enchantment)

    Chest: Fur Armor (Shirtless variant)

    Arms: Orcish Gauntlets (Fortify Unarmed enchantment)

    Ring: Ring of the Beast or Any Ring (Fortify Unarmed enchantment)

    Legs: Any Heavy boots

    The Fist's ego is so large, that it would probably surpass the amount of people he's killed. He revels in showing his face, spreading fear into the hearts of those who recognize him. And most of the time, he's the last thing they see. He also refuses to wear shirts, as the Fist feels that shirts restrict the movement of his arms, and he HATES being restricted. But, the Fist is no fool; he knows that he needs some kind of armor to enhance his survivability. He takes the Orcish Gauntlets as a reminder of his ancestry, as the Fist is extremely proud of his Orismer heritage. There's nothing more satisfying to him than killing someone with a nice pair of Orc-made gauntlets. As for his boots, he cares little for what type they are. All he cares about his how much defense they give him, as he yearns to serve Malacath for as long as possible, and he won't let death take that honor away from him.

    Perk Spread:

    Level 20

    The build is essentially completed by level 20, though it will take time to raise each of the skills to their suggested levels. Now, some of the skills are more important than others, so I'll lay them out here:

    Heavy Armor - Extremely Important (Needed for a higher armor rating on gauntlets/boots, and the 'Fists of Steel" perk)

    Light Armor - Important (First perk needed for a higher armor rating on the Fur chest piece)

    Smithing - Somewhat important (perks will help you improve armor to higher ratings, but isn't super useful until said armor is gathered)

    Enchanting - Somewhat important (perks will help make the "Fortify Unarmed" enchantment stronger, but not useful until you've acquired, improved and enchanted the needed armor)

    Lycanthropy - Not important (this can be leveled at your leisure, as it's more of a "last minute defense mechanism", and something to do for fun, meaning that it'll only be used in emergency situations, or when you want to dismember someone)

    Augmenting Unarmed Damage:

    As we all know, the Fist uses...his fists. Unfortunately, Skyrim is devoid of an unarmed tree, and neither One Handed nor Two Handed offer any perks that directly help unarmed combat. The Fortify Unarmed enchantment and the Fists of Steel perk both help add some damage, but not enough to make a serious dent against higher-leveled enemies. So, the Fist will need to use an...unorthodox method, known as "Armor Stacking". It's a simple glitch, which allows you to wear multiple pieces of armor (One per type (Ex: One Dwarven set, One Orcish set, etc)). It increases your armor rating exponentially, and with the Fists of Steel perk, it increases the Fist's overall unarmed damage. Now, the Fist loves a good fight, so it's recommended that we don't bump his unarmed damage to godlike levels. We still want to have a challenge, but we want to be able to do a good amount of damage in the process.

    Now, pulling the glitch off is simple, and there are two ways you can do it. (Note: You MUST be either a Werewolf or a Vampire Lord for this to work)

    The first way the glitch can be done is during the "Silver Hand" quest, when you enter the Underforge. As your character drinks some of the werewolf blood, the screen will fade to black, and a very short loading screen will appear. The moment the loading screen stops (the level display will vanish and be replaced by the HUD) open your inventory. A message will pop up, saying the inventory is unavailable, but it will still open. Now, equip your chosen armor pieces, then exit the menu. After you transform back to your normal form, you'll have all of the armor pieces you chose, equipped. Also, the pieces that have the highest armor rating will be the ones that are "worn" on the Fist. 

    The second way the glitch can be done is a little more complicated. What you need to do is grab a follower, and go out in the wilderness where no one will spot you. Give all desired gear to your follower. Now comes the tricky part: you need to press the button for transform, and the button to talk to your follower at the same time. What will happen, is the dialogue options will appear, but your character will undergo the transformation. Once the transformation is complete, enter the follower's inventory and equip desired items. When you return to human form, you'll be wearing all of the chosen pieces. Now, it's best to do this in Third Person view, as the transformations will force you to that view, and may cancel out the conversation options. Again, the armor with the highest armor rating will be the ones that are "worn" on the Fist.

    (Note: This glitch is OPTIONAL, but extremely helpful in giving the Fist the tools needed to make unarmed damage more akin to weapon damage. This glitch can give you a ridiculous attack rating, resulting in potential one-shots on high level enemies. In order to keep the fun and the challenge of the build, I'd recommend using the glitch to boost your attack rating to SWORD damage levels. This way, fights will be challenging, and will not result in becoming ridiculously overpowered)

    Roleplay

    . Don't take crap from anyone - The Fist of Malacath is all powerful. He is above everyone, and no one is above him. If someone disrespects the Fist, he breaks their neck. If someone steals from him, he steals their life. If someone tries to put themselves above him, he stamps them down until they're six feet under. He will teach them a lesson that even their descendants won't ever forget.

    . Always use your fists - Malacath didn't name you "The Fist", just for kicks. He named you this way for a reason. The Fist is an Orc; a force of pure destruction and violence. Weapons can be powerful, but nothing beats the feeling of strangling his enemies with his bare hands, or smashing their face in over and over again. Most of all, nothing is more satisfying to the Fist than downing the largest of foes with such a simplistic fighting style. 

    . Help any Orcs you find (provided they're worthy of your help) - The Fist is more than just the champion of Malacath; he's also a huge public figure for the Orismer. Orcs idolize him, and some have devoted their very lives to studying the Fist. As an Orc, it is your duty to assist Orismer who are in need. Doing so strengthens his influence on the Orismer culture, and strengthen's his devotion to Malacath. But, the Fist is picky, even within the Orismer. He frowns upon the weak, viewing them nothing but sword fodder. He will abandon them if he feels they have lost usefulness, and won't have a single moment of remorse in the process.

    . Do not cower in the shadows; charge your foes with a mighty roar - The Fist is no coward. He does not hide in the shadows, waiting for the enemy to turn their back. He doesn't sneak up on people, nor does he kill them while they are unaware of his presence. The Fist is brazen, and bold. He charges the enemy, regardless of the situation, and regardless of whom the enemy is. There's nothing more frightening in the world than seeing the Fist of Malacath charging straight for you; murder in his eyes.

    Be rude to everyone - The Fist has no time for talk. Only breaking things. So whenever someone tries to engage him in conversation, he gives them a menacing stare, and insults their family repeatedly. Those who are unlucky enough to not take the hint are never seen again...in one piece...

    Ideal Quests: 

    Main Questline - The Fist is bound by Malacath to complete this questline, because if the dragons destroy the world, then who is there to beat up?

    Companions - In order for the Fist to become a werewolf, he needs to join the Companions. However, the Fist absolutely despises his guild-mates, and insults them on a regular basis.

    Dark Brotherhood - While the Fist is no assassin, how can he say no to killing people for gold?

    Civil War - The Fist despises all races (except the Orismer), but hates the humans most of all. While he'd rather not help them settle their petty squabbles, he does want revenge against the Empire for capturing him while he slept, as well as his attempted execution. In secret, he regularly kills both Stormcloak and Imperials alike, but recognizes that the Stormcloaks will help him carve a path straight to General Tullius himself. Nothing will hold him back from beating the Empire to a bloody pulp

    Dragonborn - What does the Fist do when two random Cultists try and murder him in broad daylight? He invades their island, steals their precious Black Books, and sucks the life out of their leader with his bare hands.

    The Cursed Tribe - The Fist always strives to prove himself further to Malacath. He wants to be the most ruthless champion Malacath has ever had. What better way to do so than helping Malacath with a nasty thorn in his side! He gets to re-power Volendrung, the ancient warhammer given by Malacath himself...and he gets to smack some giants around too. Just for fun

    Suggested Startup Gameplay:

    Complete "Unbound", and clear Embershard mine (you can loot your fur armor from here) Then, equip the Warrior stone and warn Riverwood of the dragon attack. Go to Whiterun, and immediately improve your fur armor. Next, go to Dragonsreach and receive the quest "Bleak Falls Barrow". Disregard the quest for now. Next, go to the stables, and hire the carriage to Riften. Enter Riften and go straight to the Ratway. Slap around Gian the Fist, and steal his gloves. Complete Bleak Falls Barrow, then pummel the dragon at the watchtower (you should have a few soul gems now). Return to Whiterun  and disenchant Gian's gloves for the "Fortify Unarmed" enchantment. Now, apply it to any ring, necklace, or heavy armor gauntlets that you own (if you have none, just make a run to Belathor's and buy a pair). Congratulations! You are now ready to smack some lowly human's around for fun!

    (Note: As you progress through the game, higher level gauntlets will become available, and your enchanting skill will begin to increase. Feel free to enchant these new items, as your enchantments will start to become stronger, netting you more unarmed damage)

    Special Moves:

    The Fist has a lot of different special moves under his belt; each one working for different situations. Here are two examples of moves that the Fist has perfected, and are excellent choices for any environment.

    Surprise, Surprise: Whirlwind Sprint + Fists

    There's nothing funnier to the Fist then simply appearing in front of an enemy, and smashing his fist into their face. The look of sheer terror in his target's eyes is what makes the Fist's day.

    Feint's Fall: Fists + Unrelenting Force

    This works best outdoors, and preferably on a large cliff. Using his hands as a distraction, the Fist forces his opponent close to the cliff's edge, then blasts him off the mountainside with the melodious sound of Unrelenting Force. Frightening to his enemies, and comical for the Fist, this remains one of his favorite moves.

    Final Notes:

    . The stacking glitch can be used to achieve 100% shout cooldown reduction, if one so desires. I believe that they can also be stacked on top of the Fortify Unarmed necklace that you can make

    . This build was designed on a console, so mods were unable to be used. 

    . I hope you enjoy, and most of all, have fun with this build!

    See you in Ashpit, milk drinker

  • Member
    April 7, 2016

    Great work Taurus, you´ve improved

  • Member
    April 7, 2016

    Thank you!

  • Member
    April 7, 2016

    I like it. simple yet effective I like how it's only twenty, but I personally would go to thirty. Never the less, +1

  • Member
    April 7, 2016

    Good point there, I was noticing that the unarmed enchantments don't get as much of a bonus with the current enchanting setup, so putting some more points in would probably help out.

    I thought about upping the Speech tree earlier, and it's actually not a bad idea. It would fit in really well with the whole "intimidation" style of the build..

    Thank you for the like!