Good day and welcome to Team ReMan's maiden voyage into the 5th character building contest. A contest all about exotic races from all over Nirn and beyond. For our journey we have chosen the brutal ice demons of Akavir, The Kamal. It was our goal to present a build that you could jump right into both the role play and game play, and what a ride it has been. So sit back and enjoy the journey my friends as we present...
Little is known about the mysterious continent of Akavir. What we do know is that very much like Tamriel it is made up of different nations. One and possibly the most inhospitable of any of them is called Kamal, which literally means "Snow Hell". However when referring to the race it means Snow Demons. It is said that every winter they go into a state of frozen hibernation. When summer comes they then thaw out and unleash their pent up fury on any unfortunate enough to be around. Their favorite target is the Tang Mo, or Monkey people of Akavir. The Tang Mo are use to the constant threat and are regularly able after years of hostile summers to stem the tide of the barbaric Kamal onslaught. It should be noted however that they can only accomplish this feat due to an alliance with other nations and the support thereof.
During the 2nd Era 252 The Kamal launched an invasion of Tamriel. Landing off of the coast of Skyrim they were able to not only frustrate the Nords, but actually sack Windhelm. Laying Siege to the land and decimating Nordic forces. During the Siege they killed Queen Mabjaarn in front of her son Jorunn, who would later become known as the Skald King. Jorunn would barley escape the sack of Windhelm with his life. For the very first time he would feel the responsibility of his royal birth. Broken and desperate Jorrun appealed to the Greybeards for help. They taught him a Thu'um that would summon a hero of Sovngarde. But due to his parentage this Thu'um would become a royal Call of Valor and summoned none other than Wulfharth The Ash King. Together they would rally the Nordic armies and give chase to the Kamal. The Kamal seeing Riften defended by angry Nords inspired by the presence of Wulfhath would turn their attention to the east in what proved to be their undoing. They would meet an army of Dunmer to their front and angry Nords at their backs while being hit from the side by the elite Argonian Shellbacks.
Race: Orc. Orcs are huge and incredible warriors, and not only look the part of a demon but come with the legendary Berserker ability.
Stone: We will progress through the Lover, and the Atronach.
Stats: 1/2/1 The perfect distribution for this character. A bit of magic goes a long way with this build and for those huge warhammers a bit of stamina to really knock your enemies block off. All the while letting health take the lead so we can tank through those tightly packed rooms.
Quests: The Main Quest(up to the Throat of the World), The Helm of Yngol, Dawngaurd(Volkihar), Rings of Blood Magic, Dragonborn, A New Source of Stahlrim, The Sallow Regent, Wind and Sand, Destroy the Morag Tong agents on the island.
Major Skills: One-Handed, Two-Handed, Destruction.
Minor Skills: Enchanting, Smithing, Block, Unarmed
Spells: Ice Spike, Icy Spear, Frost Rune, Whirlwind Cloak, Frost Cloak, Conjure Mistman.
Shouts: Frost Breath, Whirlwind Sprint, Cyclone, Unrelenting Force, Soul Tear.
Powers: Seeker of Sorcery
A perfect blend of Barbarian and Battlemage. The Ada'Soons mission is accomplished by raw power combined with just the right amount of cunning. One thing that I think could have made Skyrim much better would have been the addition of a large variety of projectile weapons. Namely spears. At range The Kamal freezes his weapon and launches it at his opponent. Once the opponent gets within hand to hand range The Kamal removes the weapon and finishes the job.
Vampirism was a hard sell for Relycs to pitch me as my previous two builds dealt with those mechanics but I am absolutely ecstatic that he was able to get me to buy into it. The main pros are all around great assets. The resistance to frost and weakness to fire fit great with the role-play, and on the flip side Ring of the Beast plus Berserker Rage then shifting into Vampire Lord Form... Somebody stop me I'm getting weak in the knees here...
A completely different approach than your usual Necromage augmented vampire, and the ability to tank through just about anything at almost any level. Block is taken mainly for the slow effect of Quick Reflexes and yet another boost to our possible damage output via Deadly Bash. With such an awe inspiring damage output and armor that would make the Dremora jealous, The Kamal is one adversary you would never want to cross.
Whispering winds of winter woe, icy branches bend and bow, Histcarp cradled in the mud, winter waters slow their blood.
An Icy Resting Place:
To really fit the character we wanted to give ourselves a place to call home but none of the premade or build-able homes were a fit, but a nice icy cave that suited us just fine. Enter Yngols Barrow. A special little taste of frozen home, complete with 2 chests, and you can store your gear here as this location does not reset. We will be coming here also for the Helm of Yngol for some early game Frost Resistance. Once combined with Vampirism virtual frost immunity ensues.
Combat and Tactics:
Like I said earlier we wanted to give everyone a somewhat simple set up that didn't involve a lot of work and a build that could be played from level one. On the other side we also wanted to give everyone a myriad of options when it came to combat. With The Ada'Soon we deliver you just that.
Mixing One and Two Handed weapons isn't something that is overly done, and yet it has be be some of the best fun you can have. When the sword/spell and board play style starts to feel a bit dull you can pull out your trusty Warhammer and crack some skulls. Destruction comes into play at range as we "transform" our weapons into icy projectiles of death. Let's be honest the rag doll affect from whirlwind cloak fits so well with the embodiment of the Winter Woes. The following are the three main stances you will be using to wreak havoc on Tamriel.
The Wall: This is your classic Sword and Board stance but with a bit of a shield mage twist when it comes to range. When given a bit a room or at the onset of hostilities open up with some Ice Spikes/Icy Spears to help chill out the situation then unleash your fury with Sword and Shield hacking and smashing your enemies out of existence.
Useful in all situations, however range combat against non magical enemies/or in close quarters.
The Reaching Arm: You bring out not only your Warhammer and raw physical power Two handed weapons don't block as much damage as you could with a sword and shield but thanks to quick reflexes and a bit of timing you should be able to tank through or avoid most damage and end the fight very quickly.
Best used against tougher single combatants until the perk Sweep is unlocked.
The Brute: Thanks to the stars aligning unarmed combat is not only an option but an absolute thrill. The Ring of the Beast allows for an extra 20 damage, which is nice and all but happens to be effected by Berserker Rage. Allowing us to have bursts of up to 48 damage per punch for a limited time. The other plus side to this stance is that 50% of all physical damage is already mitigated prior to the affect your armor has on the incoming blow.
Consider this your OH SHIT!!! move.
Demonic Reserves:
One huge problem with a lot of builds is having to do something that might not necessarily be "in character" to only get a single piece of equipment for some almost indifferent gameplay buff. That was something we did not want you to do. So we didn't. During the Volkihar quest line one of the radiant quest is to collect the Rings of Blood Magic. Each of them are powerful in their own right but combined give a new source of reserves that honestly I don't think I have seen used in a build before.
The way it works is simple enough and doesn't even require you to open a menu. You will set them both up on your hot keys. You may have noticed there is no Alchemy or Restoration used in this monster. When you run low on health hotkey switch to the Ring of the beast for an instant 100 Health, or when in ranged combat and your magic is drained hot key over to the Ring of Erudite for an instant refill of your reserves. Just in case you don't know how to hotkey on console. You can use the favorites menu and hold either left or right on the d-pad to hotkey a spell/weapon, then just press the corresponding d-pad button. While the trick of hot keying equipment is nothing new the results from hot keying these two very specific items is astounding and completely makes up for a lack of healing abilities.
The Blessings of Akavir
Akavir literally means The Land of Dragons, and with that being said we wanted shouts to play a huge role, but once again we did not want to grind crafting skills for hours on end for super awesome shout cool down. As we progress through the main quest we meet The Blades, or what is left of them anyway. Seemingly the only people we can trust due to their bond to the history of Akavir they send us to meet with the leader of the Greybeards, and to our shock he is a dragon. Upon seeing this we flee to collect our thought.
A somewhat simple way to get a quick cool down for shouts is to precede through the main quest line up to the Throat of the World. The way the trick works is simple. Once Parthunax tells you to shout at him just fast travel away. The cool down time can vary keeping you on your toes but normally is anywhere between three and five seconds.
The second blessing of Akavir is the Kamals Demonic Rage. Which is taking one of the most awesome racial powers in the game and not only using it to it's fullest potential, but eliminates the one day cool down of Berserker Rage. By using Berserker Rage and then shifting into Vampire Lord form it resets the cooldown and allows the VL to put out MASSIVE damage in no time at all, while being immune to 50% of all incoming physical damage.
Down in an icy grave, these Tamrielic fools believe this to be my final resting place.
Levels 1-22
This build as you can tell is a very physical one. A frozen dark knight if you will. The main goal of the build is to become incredibly powerful and rebuild an army that you can use as an instrument of destruction. Starting out your focus is on the dragons, after all being Akaviri you have an instinct to destroy them. Upon discovering the corruption of the Nordic beliefs and a dragon leads their erroneous Way of the Voice. This part of the story sees some of your powers returning after your time on ice. Following that you feel a freezing need to find something resembling your kin, instead of the exclusive petulant populace of Skyrim. Enchanting is taken early on and tailored to give us the maximum bang for our buck with very little effort to avoid any grindy feelings, and will become much more powerful later in the game with NO additional perking needed.
We chose the Lover Stone for the early game as we do have two separate skills sets and it is really easy for one to fall behind so the overall XP boost was very nice to have on our side.
Near frost immunity was a big goal to help balance out our weakness to fire. With the Helm of Yngol not only does it look great with our early armor combo but puts us up to 80% resistance to frost. The Orcish armor is enchanted with fortify health giving us an extra 40 health. The Stormcloak Officer gauntlets are picked up for looks of having claws, and are enchanted with fortify One Handed for 33%. The boots are set up to back up our two handed ability for the same value. The Amulet should be enchanted with health regeneration. All in all it is a great looking combo that fits the character in the early game, while still giving us an amazing amount of durability on Master difficulty. Around the time we are ready to shift gears a bit we have come to realize that the Volkihar are little more than diseased beast that are not worthy of our leadership. We decided Skyrim was played out and sought a kingdom elsewhere. Now our journey to conquer our kingdom begins and it's off to Solsthiem we go.
Levels 23-45
As you can see not much has changed as far as our play style goes, we continue to flesh out our skill set. Destruction takes more of a focus as now many a many of our enemies in our campaign against Miraak are mobile and ranged attackers. Critical Charge and Great Critical Charge make the build even more devastating while really allowing you to feel the character becoming more aggressive and power hungry. Savage Strike and Devastating Blow thrown in to add some really nice pizazz. The real icing on the cake here though is Sweep. When facing off against multiple enemies, nothing cleans house better that your Stalhrim Warhammer which by the way enchanted with frost damage is 25% more potent than it was in the early game due to it's inherent mystical properties. Rounding out our Heavy Armor skill allows us to easily bypass the armor cap. This phase of the build is all about conquering the Island, and you should take on any of the side quest that allow you influence with important people, but no doing favors just because, there always needs to be something in it for you.
We choose the Atronach Stone mainly for the boost to out magicka, and also to help mitigate some of the fire damage that is so prevalent on Solthiem. Believe me when I tell you Azhidal is no joke on master difficulty when you have a 50% weakness to fire.
The enchantments remain the same, with the only exceptions being the Stahlrim Helment which unfortunately we can not enchant with frost resistance, so we opted for cost reduction to destruction. Then for a role play trick that came in surprisingly useful as a gameplay mechanic is Ahzidal's Boots of Waterwalking. You see in our attack on Miraak in the plane of Apocrypha all those pools of poison limit our ability to move and fight effectively, the boots allow us to stay afloat so to speak while we finally have a use for that vampire immunity to poison. From a roleplay perspective though as an Ice demon he can walk on any liquid as it freezes under his feet. Once you have defeated Miraak patrol your island eliminate any thing/one that could possibly pose a threat. Especially Reiklings!
In Conclusion
Well everyone from our brains to your screen thank you so much for taking the time to view our build. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the comments, and don't forget to like the build. Last but certainly not least I want to give a big thanks to Mirric for some awesome screenshots. Another thanks to Karver the Warlorc for some sick stance pics. Ladies and Gentleman this has been a Team ReMan Production take care Maniacs.
For even more awesomeness you can view our individual work by clicking our names.
Relycs Inspiring Creations
Good day and welcome to Team ReMan's maiden voyage into the 5th character building contest. A contest all about exotic races from all over Nirn and beyond. For our journey we have chosen the brutal ice demons of Akavir, The Kamal. It was our goal to present a build that you could jump right into both the role play and game play, and what a ride it has been. So sit back and enjoy the journey my friends as we present...
Little is known about the mysterious continent of Akavir. What we do know is that very much like Tamriel it is made up of different nations. One and possibly the most inhospitable of any of them is called Kamal, which literally means "Snow Hell". However when referring to the race it means Snow Demons. It is said that every winter they go into a state of frozen hibernation. When summer comes they then thaw out and unleash their pent up fury on any unfortunate enough to be around. Their favorite target is the Tang Mo, or Monkey people of Akavir. The Tang Mo are use to the constant threat and are regularly able after years of hostile summers to stem the tide of the barbaric Kamal onslaught. It should be noted however that they can only accomplish this feat due to an alliance with other nations and the support thereof.
During the 2nd Era 252 The Kamal launched an invasion of Tamriel. Landing off of the coast of Skyrim they were able to not only frustrate the Nords, but actually sack Windhelm. Laying Siege to the land and decimating Nordic forces. During the Siege they killed Queen Mabjaarn in front of her son Jorunn, who would later become known as the Skald King. Jorunn would barley escape the sack of Windhelm with his life. For the very first time he would feel the responsibility of his royal birth. Broken and desperate Jorrun appealed to the Greybeards for help. They taught him a Thu'um that would summon a hero of Sovngarde. But due to his parentage this Thu'um would become a royal Call of Valor and summoned none other than Wulfharth The Ash King. Together they would rally the Nordic armies and give chase to the Kamal. The Kamal seeing Riften defended by angry Nords inspired by the presence of Wulfhath would turn their attention to the east in what proved to be their undoing. They would meet an army of Dunmer to their front and angry Nords at their backs while being hit from the side by the elite Argonian Shellbacks.
Race: Orc. Orcs are huge and incredible warriors, and not only look the part of a demon but come with the legendary Berserker ability.
Stone: We will progress through the Lover, and the Atronach.
Stats: 1/2/1 The perfect distribution for this character. A bit of magic goes a long way with this build and for those huge warhammers a bit of stamina to really knock your enemies block off. All the while letting health take the lead so we can tank through those tightly packed rooms.
Quests: The Main Quest(up to the Throat of the World), The Helm of Yngol, Dawngaurd(Volkihar), Rings of Blood Magic, Dragonborn, A New Source of Stahlrim, The Sallow Regent, Wind and Sand, Destroy the Morag Tong agents on the island.
Major Skills: One-Handed, Two-Handed, Destruction.
Minor Skills: Enchanting, Smithing, Block, Unarmed
Spells: Ice Spike, Icy Spear, Frost Rune, Whirlwind Cloak, Frost Cloak, Conjure Mistman.
Shouts: Frost Breath, Whirlwind Sprint, Cyclone, Unrelenting Force, Soul Tear.
Powers: Seeker of Sorcery
A perfect blend of Barbarian and Battlemage. The Ada'Soons mission is accomplished by raw power combined with just the right amount of cunning. One thing that I think could have made Skyrim much better would have been the addition of a large variety of projectile weapons. Namely spears. At range The Kamal freezes his weapon and launches it at his opponent. Once the opponent gets within hand to hand range The Kamal removes the weapon and finishes the job.
Vampirism was a hard sell for Relycs to pitch me as my previous two builds dealt with those mechanics but I am absolutely ecstatic that he was able to get me to buy into it. The main pros are all around great assets. The resistance to frost and weakness to fire fit great with the role-play, and on the flip side Ring of the Beast plus Berserker Rage then shifting into Vampire Lord Form... Somebody stop me I'm getting weak in the knees here...
A completely different approach than your usual Necromage augmented vampire, and the ability to tank through just about anything at almost any level. Block is taken mainly for the slow effect of Quick Reflexes and yet another boost to our possible damage output via Deadly Bash. With such an awe inspiring damage output and armor that would make the Dremora jealous, The Kamal is one adversary you would never want to cross.
Whispering winds of winter woe, icy branches bend and bow, Histcarp cradled in the mud, winter waters slow their blood.
An Icy Resting Place:
To really fit the character we wanted to give ourselves a place to call home but none of the premade or build-able homes were a fit, but a nice icy cave that suited us just fine. Enter Yngols Barrow. A special little taste of frozen home, complete with 2 chests, and you can store your gear here as this location does not reset. We will be coming here also for the Helm of Yngol for some early game Frost Resistance. Once combined with Vampirism virtual frost immunity ensues.
Combat and Tactics:
Like I said earlier we wanted to give everyone a somewhat simple set up that didn't involve a lot of work and a build that could be played from level one. On the other side we also wanted to give everyone a myriad of options when it came to combat. With The Ada'Soon we deliver you just that.
Mixing One and Two Handed weapons isn't something that is overly done, and yet it has be be some of the best fun you can have. When the sword/spell and board play style starts to feel a bit dull you can pull out your trusty Warhammer and crack some skulls. Destruction comes into play at range as we "transform" our weapons into icy projectiles of death. Let's be honest the rag doll affect from whirlwind cloak fits so well with the embodiment of the Winter Woes. The following are the three main stances you will be using to wreak havoc on Tamriel.
The Wall: This is your classic Sword and Board stance but with a bit of a shield mage twist when it comes to range. When given a bit a room or at the onset of hostilities open up with some Ice Spikes/Icy Spears to help chill out the situation then unleash your fury with Sword and Shield hacking and smashing your enemies out of existence.
Useful in all situations, however range combat against non magical enemies/or in close quarters.
The Reaching Arm: You bring out not only your Warhammer and raw physical power Two handed weapons don't block as much damage as you could with a sword and shield but thanks to quick reflexes and a bit of timing you should be able to tank through or avoid most damage and end the fight very quickly.
Best used against tougher single combatants until the perk Sweep is unlocked.
The Brute: Thanks to the stars aligning unarmed combat is not only an option but an absolute thrill. The Ring of the Beast allows for an extra 20 damage, which is nice and all but happens to be effected by Berserker Rage. Allowing us to have bursts of up to 48 damage per punch for a limited time. The other plus side to this stance is that 50% of all physical damage is already mitigated prior to the affect your armor has on the incoming blow.
Consider this your OH SHIT!!! move.
Demonic Reserves:
One huge problem with a lot of builds is having to do something that might not necessarily be "in character" to only get a single piece of equipment for some almost indifferent gameplay buff. That was something we did not want you to do. So we didn't. During the Volkihar quest line one of the radiant quest is to collect the Rings of Blood Magic. Each of them are powerful in their own right but combined give a new source of reserves that honestly I don't think I have seen used in a build before.
The way it works is simple enough and doesn't even require you to open a menu. You will set them both up on your hot keys. You may have noticed there is no Alchemy or Restoration used in this monster. When you run low on health hotkey switch to the Ring of the beast for an instant 100 Health, or when in ranged combat and your magic is drained hot key over to the Ring of Erudite for an instant refill of your reserves. Just in case you don't know how to hotkey on console. You can use the favorites menu and hold either left or right on the d-pad to hotkey a spell/weapon, then just press the corresponding d-pad button. While the trick of hot keying equipment is nothing new the results from hot keying these two very specific items is astounding and completely makes up for a lack of healing abilities.
The Blessings of Akavir
Akavir literally means The Land of Dragons, and with that being said we wanted shouts to play a huge role, but once again we did not want to grind crafting skills for hours on end for super awesome shout cool down. As we progress through the main quest we meet The Blades, or what is left of them anyway. Seemingly the only people we can trust due to their bond to the history of Akavir they send us to meet with the leader of the Greybeards, and to our shock he is a dragon. Upon seeing this we flee to collect our thought.
A somewhat simple way to get a quick cool down for shouts is to precede through the main quest line up to the Throat of the World. The way the trick works is simple. Once Parthunax tells you to shout at him just fast travel away. The cool down time can vary keeping you on your toes but normally is anywhere between three and five seconds.
The second blessing of Akavir is the Kamals Demonic Rage. Which is taking one of the most awesome racial powers in the game and not only using it to it's fullest potential, but eliminates the one day cool down of Berserker Rage. By using Berserker Rage and then shifting into Vampire Lord form it resets the cooldown and allows the VL to put out MASSIVE damage in no time at all, while being immune to 50% of all incoming physical damage.
Down in an icy grave, these Tamrielic fools believe this to be my final resting place.
Levels 1-22
This build as you can tell is a very physical one. A frozen dark knight if you will. The main goal of the build is to become incredibly powerful and rebuild an army that you can use as an instrument of destruction. Starting out your focus is on the dragons, after all being Akaviri you have an instinct to destroy them. Upon discovering the corruption of the Nordic beliefs and a dragon leads their erroneous Way of the Voice. This part of the story sees some of your powers returning after your time on ice. Following that you feel a freezing need to find something resembling your kin, instead of the exclusive petulant populace of Skyrim. Enchanting is taken early on and tailored to give us the maximum bang for our buck with very little effort to avoid any grindy feelings, and will become much more powerful later in the game with NO additional perking needed.
We chose the Lover Stone for the early game as we do have two separate skills sets and it is really easy for one to fall behind so the overall XP boost was very nice to have on our side.
Near frost immunity was a big goal to help balance out our weakness to fire. With the Helm of Yngol not only does it look great with our early armor combo but puts us up to 80% resistance to frost. The Orcish armor is enchanted with fortify health giving us an extra 40 health. The Stormcloak Officer gauntlets are picked up for looks of having claws, and are enchanted with fortify One Handed for 33%. The boots are set up to back up our two handed ability for the same value. The Amulet should be enchanted with health regeneration. All in all it is a great looking combo that fits the character in the early game, while still giving us an amazing amount of durability on Master difficulty. Around the time we are ready to shift gears a bit we have come to realize that the Volkihar are little more than diseased beast that are not worthy of our leadership. We decided Skyrim was played out and sought a kingdom elsewhere. Now our journey to conquer our kingdom begins and it's off to Solsthiem we go.
Levels 23-45
As you can see not much has changed as far as our play style goes, we continue to flesh out our skill set. Destruction takes more of a focus as now many a many of our enemies in our campaign against Miraak are mobile and ranged attackers. Critical Charge and Great Critical Charge make the build even more devastating while really allowing you to feel the character becoming more aggressive and power hungry. Savage Strike and Devastating Blow thrown in to add some really nice pizazz. The real icing on the cake here though is Sweep. When facing off against multiple enemies, nothing cleans house better that your Stalhrim Warhammer which by the way enchanted with frost damage is 25% more potent than it was in the early game due to it's inherent mystical properties. Rounding out our Heavy Armor skill allows us to easily bypass the armor cap. This phase of the build is all about conquering the Island, and you should take on any of the side quest that allow you influence with important people, but no doing favors just because, there always needs to be something in it for you.
We choose the Atronach Stone mainly for the boost to out magicka, and also to help mitigate some of the fire damage that is so prevalent on Solthiem. Believe me when I tell you Azhidal is no joke on master difficulty when you have a 50% weakness to fire.
The enchantments remain the same, with the only exceptions being the Stahlrim Helment which unfortunately we can not enchant with frost resistance, so we opted for cost reduction to destruction. Then for a role play trick that came in surprisingly useful as a gameplay mechanic is Ahzidal's Boots of Waterwalking. You see in our attack on Miraak in the plane of Apocrypha all those pools of poison limit our ability to move and fight effectively, the boots allow us to stay afloat so to speak while we finally have a use for that vampire immunity to poison. From a roleplay perspective though as an Ice demon he can walk on any liquid as it freezes under his feet. Once you have defeated Miraak patrol your island eliminate any thing/one that could possibly pose a threat. Especially Reiklings!
In Conclusion
Well everyone from our brains to your screen thank you so much for taking the time to view our build. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the comments, and don't forget to like the build. Last but certainly not least I want to give a big thanks to Mirric for some awesome screenshots. Another thanks to Karver the Warlorc for some sick stance pics. Ladies and Gentleman this has been a Team ReMan Production take care Maniacs.
For even more awesomeness you can view our individual work by clicking our names.
Relycs Inspiring Creations
