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Event Build: The Storm Samurai

Tags: #Character Build Spellsword  #Race:Nord  #Character Build Sorcerer  #Character Build Battlemage  #Rank:Event Recognized  #Motty Build  #Event:Against Type 
  • Member
    November 15, 2016

    For this against-type event build my goal was to make a powerful character with a focus on spell-absorption and retribution using a Nord and only perking One-handed from his racial tree. This build is all about absorption and reciprocity – whatever damage your opponent tries to dish out, you soak up and convert into the energy needed to strike back with deadly power. This makes for a versatile character, melding elements of a spellsword, battlemage and sorcerer. Ultimately, I envision this character as a spin off of a Samurai archetype, wearing heavy armor but using one-handed swords (instead of the traditional two-handed blade) alongside a healthy dose of electrical spell casting.

    Inspiration: The Last Samurai with a little Rogue from the Marvel Universe. 

    Backstory:
    “Give and take. Take and give. I’ve studied the rhythm of battle, and set my mind…that in order to master the art of war, one must master the ability to absorb whatever comes from your enemies and give it back 10 fold. Take their power and make it yours. Victory lies in reciprocity.” - Journal of The Storm Samurai 

    This Nord’s penchant for magic use and cross-cultural lore make for a truly against-type build. An outsider obsessed with combat study, he has traveled and trained extensively and prefers solo adventuring.

    Character Basics:
    Race: Nord

    Stone: Advanced Atronach  (Elixir + Philter + Elixir of the Healer at level yields 90% spell absorption)

    Stats: M – 3 H -2 S – 0*

    *Using the Nightingale blade absorbs both health and stamina, making stamina more or less irrelevant. Optionally, use the unlimited stamina glitch and a looted enchanted sword with health absorption. 

    Skill Notes:
    One-handed - Nightingale Blade or looted Sword of (absorb health or stamina). Dragonbane is a nice early option since you’re perking electric damage. If you get really hung up on the Samurai side of Roleplay and want to go two-handed, by all means, simply make the swap and snag the Ebony Blade. But I prefer having a hand free for spell casting.

    Destruction – with a focus on shock damage. To me, this type of attack synergizes well with the absorption theme, as it not only damages health but saps magicka from foes.

    Restoration – Advanced Recovery Perk, Guardian Circle

    Heavy Armor – Tower of Strength + Force without effort = 75% stagger reduction, Reflect blows 10% chance to reflect melee blows (plus Azhidal’s armor for double Retribution effect – see “abilities” section).

    Alchemy – secondary to buff skills as needed such as one-handed, fortify restoration and destruction.

    Sneak – personal preference as I simply like to tread lightly around Tamriel…and silent forward rolls are fun and fitting for a samurai-like character.

    *Enchanting – one issue I ran into is the Nightingale blade recharge rate. I could only get a few swings and have to constantly recharge. Consider leveling and perking enchanting, solely as a way to remove this immersion breaking glitch. Optionally, switch to a looted sword of health or stamina absorption with a better charge rate. (I ultimately found a beautiful glass sword with +15 absorb health and used the Unlimited Stamina Glitch to simulate the same effect).

    Character Customization:

    Spells – Sparks, Lightning Bolt, Shock Cloak, Chain Lightning, Thunderbolt, Guardian Circle

    Gear – Nahkriin, Azhidal’s Armor, ring of destruction, necklace of wielding, heavy armor of choice - boots of stamina and gloves of magicka or one-handed.

    Passive – Force Without Effort

    Shouts – UR Force, Cyclone, Storm Call, Throw Voice

    Powers – Agent of Strife (absorb 100 health)

    Faction – Companions

    Alignment – Lawful Neutral, adhering to honor

    Quests – Main line, Unearthed, Companions line, Thieves Guild Line (or shortcut - see below) 

    Gameplay / Getting Started:

    The early game should be focused on leveling one-handed, heavy armor & destruction, but most notably restoration. The ultimate achievement is Guardian Circle. Plus you’ll want to get restoration to 60 by character level 30. But first, journey to the Atronach Stone early to get used to lower levels of magicka absorption (and diminished regeneration). Once you hit level 30, procure two Elixirs and one Philter of the Healer and program the advanced version of the Atronach stone while simultaneously taking both Recovery perks from the Restoration tree. Consider this step the “Storm Samurai’s Ascension” signifying mastery over the battlefield. This will result in 90% magicka absorption and significantly offset the pain of the magicka regeneration penalty.

    Get through the early stages of the main quest to open shouts and trigger the Dragonborn encounter. The Blades Armor makes for a nice set for much of the game. Join the Thieves Guild to get the Nightingale Blade. Feel free to skip most of the questline by following these instructions. A little bucketmancy can save a lot of time if you’re in a hurry.

    Make sure to head to Kolborn barrow to start Unearthed when you have some gold built up. The Armor of Retribution is a must if you intend to take Heavy Armor all the way to 100 for the double retribution effect. I highly recommend running the Companions line to get free heavy armor training from Farkas as it can be notoriously sluggish. Finishing the Main Quest is a must to grab the perfectly fitting Nahkriin, which on top of boosting restoration and destruction looks hella-good on Azhidal’s armor. Civil War and Dawnguard questlines are left to player’s choice.

    The general structure of combat revolves around absorbing your enemy’s powers, converting it to your advantage and dealing out reciprocal damage.

    Humanoids – their advance leads to their own launching via a well-timed cyclone or fus roh da shouts. Finish with one-handed attacks while continuously recharging your stamina and health from the Nightingale Blade. Melee attacks that slip through have a high chance of reflecting back to the attacker.

    Mages – With your high level of spell absorption, casters will recharge your magicka much to their own demise. If you find yourself in tight quarters, cloak yourself in electric, which will further damage and drain their resources causing them to switch to pathetic dagger use. The one downside of playing this character as a Nord is the built in 50% frost resistance. When facing ice-mages, your magicka won’t fill as quickly. But this really only comes into play against a strong ice mage like Dukaan (See video).

    Undead – Draugr can de disposed of with a classic combo of destruction and melee damage. Dual cast chain lightning for crowd staggering effects. Later, Guardian Circle will get you out any tough bind by recharging your magicka constantly for the duration of the spell.

    Dragons – soak up their mighty breath and use lightning based destruction spells to sap their magicka and bring them to earth for a final, exhilarating duel.

    The Arcane Art
    Requires: Guardian Circle Spell or Scroll + Advanced Atronach Stone
    Description: the classic magicka battery trick first described in part by Mason's in his Legendary Obsidian Sentinel can be used with guardian circle spells or scrolls. Stand in the circle and fire away with any spell you wish and watch the Magicka bar refill almost instantly (see video against Durnehviir and misc Dragon for examples).

    The Virtue of Patience
    Requires: Advanced Atronach Stone, Healing spell
    Description: Isolate mages and load a healing spell in one hand and watch them tirelessly attack you in vain as they unknowingly recharge your magicka while you continuously heal. When you tire of playing with them or they run out of magicka, fire away and finish the battle. 

    The Fate of Retribution
    Requires: Ahzidal’s Armor + Reflect Blows Perk
    Description: don the Armor of Retribution alongside the Reflect Blows Perk any melee attacks that slip through your initial defense have a significant chance of being dealt back to the attacker. This in combination with Force Without Effort and Tower of Strength also help create stagger-less footing for you to finish off any foe. 

    Storm Samurai Special
    Mix three of any of these: ectoplasm, elves ear, glow dust, glowing mushroom, grass pod, tundra cotton, jazbay grapes, white cap,
    Effect: Fortify Destruction, Restore Magicka
    Description: Prior to the ascension, you’ll run out of magicka often. Load up on some of these to boost your damage output and restore magicka.

    Run and Recharge
    Ingredients: Luna Moth, Mora Tapinella, Vampire dust
    Effect: Invisibility, Regen health, Restore Magicka
    Description: If you get in a tough spot, this one is a good last chance potion to regroup.

    Battle Tested
    Hanging Moss + Rock Warbler Egg + Wheat
    Effect: Fortify One-Handed, Fortify Health, Restore health
    Description: When forced into close quarters combat, chug one of these for a boost.

    *Gameplay Level Note: If you want to play on high levels of difficulty, alchemy can be used to create poisons of weakness to shock & magicka with which one can tag enemies prior to firing away with shock magic.

    Final Thoughts:

    This was a real fun way to see Tamriel again. It was my first time on PS4 and I really loved soaking up all the incoming damage for my own use. Hope you enjoy! Check the "Motty Build" tag for my other (old, old, ancient) Skyrim Builds. Enjoy a little highlight video, paying particular attention to my magicka bar refilling in tough battles. Art credit for Potions header goes to Amaronte.

    "Thus when the army strikes a blow, it will be like a thunderclap out of a cloudless sky. The best victories are those unforeseen by the enemy, but obvious to everyone afterwards.” - Zurin Arctus, The Art of War Magic 

     

     

  • November 15, 2016

    Nice of you to grace our neck of the woods with this fun build, Motty. You and I both use Ahzidal's stuff, but in different ways. Nice work. Hehe, mebbe we see more of you, eh?

  • Member
    November 15, 2016

    Lissette Long-Chapper said:

    Nice of you to grace our neck of the woods with this fun build, Motty. You and I both use Ahzidal's stuff, but in different ways. Nice work. Hehe, mebbe we see more of you, eh?

    Been a loooong time. But I needed a break from FO4 and had a lot of fun. Thanks for taking a look.

  • November 15, 2016

    Really kickass concept, Motty! Me like! I think that this Event is turning out really great so far! Keep 'em coming! :)

  • Member
    November 15, 2016

    Karver the Afflicted said:

    Really kickass concept, Motty! Me like! I think that this Event is turning out really great so far! Keep 'em coming! :)

    appreciate the feedback Karvs. The level of buidling over here is honestly borderline intimidating. I'm still just trying to get my spacing right hahaha

  • Member
    November 15, 2016

    Samurai builds and Shock magic are two things that I REALLY enjoy... insta-like from me :D

    I love the Gaurdian Circle/absorb magicka glitch as well; stand in the middle, cast the master shock spell, and tell that dragon to take a seat! xD

    I agree with everyone else, this has been a great event so far. I'm loving these builds ;D

  • Member
    November 15, 2016

    This is a pretty sweet build and concept here, tanking and dishing it back vs mages never gets old, while wading in with sword, heavy armour (especially Ahzie's) and magic is always a fun playstyle. Nice one Motty!

  • Member
    November 15, 2016

    ShinJin said:

    Samurai builds and Shock magic are two things that I REALLY enjoy... insta-like from me :D

    I love the Gaurdian Circle/absorb magicka glitch as well; stand in the middle, cast the master shock spell, and tell that dragon to take a seat! xD

    I agree with everyone else, this has been a great event so far. I'm loving these builds ;D

    Phil said:

    This is a pretty sweet build and concept here, tanking and dishing it back vs mages never gets old, while wading in with sword, heavy armour (especially Ahzie's) and magic is always a fun playstyle. Nice one Motty!

    Thanks so much everyone! I new you'd like that samurai style Shin :)

  • November 15, 2016

    Mottyskills said:

    Karver the Afflicted said:

    Really kickass concept, Motty! Me like! I think that this Event is turning out really great so far! Keep 'em coming! :)

    appreciate the feedback Karvs. The level of buidling over here is honestly borderline intimidating. I'm still just trying to get my spacing right hahaha

    Nah, nah, nah, don't think that, you are doing great. I am trying to get my spacing right too. Wait til you see the status updates 10:30pm on the 28th where I rip out my hair and sheeeeeeet like that. The crying and the wine. Yes, expect much wine to be drunk. :D

  • Member
    November 16, 2016

    Samurai build, nuff' said! :D