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Event Mini-Build: Eplear, Fallen King

Tags: #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Juggernaut  #Character Build Mods  #Dragonborn1721  #Ordinator  #Theme Two: Resurrection  #Event: Four in Four  #FlamezSword 
  • Member
    November 27, 2017

    Hello fellow Vaultians, is that the right word? No... anyways, welcome to a little bit of change for me: a Skyrim build! Where I'm joined by the most generous Dragonborn to take up my offer to do a resurrection mini-build for the Event. Welcome to...

     

     Backstory:

    At the break of dawn order, for the first time, would come over Valenwood; the Camoran Dynasty at its lead. The ancient tribes long before recorded history would be united under a single empire; an empire that would struggle to retain its grasp upon history throughout the ages. This is also where we learn of their first ruler: King Eplear, who produced one of “the greatest feats in Tamriel’s history.” Known to be a kind, benevolent ruler Eplear would often times allow refugees into the Bosmer homeland and welcomed even the great Ayleid Empire’s denizens to take shelter within their borders. Hundreds of years and a few eras after our good King’s death the Camoran Dynasty began to fall apart. After constant warfare and heated betrayals one particular group of Camoran loyalists delved deep into a dark and dangerous art. One such an art that would cause mayhem throughout the 4th Era…

    Decades of research left the remaining loyalists old and feeble; unable to cling to life as their final incantation mumbled, and last reserves of magicka depleted. Here our good King would rise once again from his cold slumber remembering everyone and everything that ever wronged him…This is where he would learn the past few centuries of what became of his Dynasty, one particular foe standing out strong: The Cyrodilic Empire. However, he knew better than to rush headlong into a fight he had no chances of winning. Now filled with vengeance Eplear sets out for Skyrim being that his once renown Dynasty is now nothing more than legend, and not nearly enough power to go right for the heart of the Empire. The King finds himself caught at the border by an Imperial ambush, unbeknownst as to who he is, but more interested in an apparent enemy of the realm: Ulfric Stormcloak. Concluding that this Ralof is necessary to his plans King Eplear supports him out of Helgen with his self-proclaimed task in mind. Once freed from the bonds of the Empire Eplear makes way to the nearest village with Ralof, who just so happens to be a Stormcloak underling. He would use these “Stormcloaks” as his new army, to secure a foothold in this miserable land, and then the real fight would begin. The fight for not only his pride, but for his fallen people. The pride of a fallen King…

     

    The Basics: 

    Race: Bosmer 

    Imperious – Races of Skyrim adds three unique passive effects to the Bosmer as well as one unlockable daily power. Out of the three passives, this build will primarily make use of Wild Senses which is a unique ability that allows a Bosmer to detect moving enemies if Eplear isn’t moving and in stealth mode. 

    Skills: Archery, Heavy Armor and Speech 

    Stats: 0 Magicka, 2 Health, 3 Stamina 

    Standing Stone: The Lady 

    The Lady is an interesting standing stone when used with Aurora – Standing Stones of Skyrim because the basic ability of it is to summon a Lunar Familiar. Or basically a Sabre Cat that spawns whenever you enter combat. It isn’t the most powerful summon, but for a non-Conjuration Bosmer character it adds a unique little element that will play very well with some of the perks we’ll take later. 

    Quests: Civil War (Stormcloaks). 

    The Civil War is the only real major quest that this character completes, with any other quest being incidental at best. The general idea behind the approach to the Civil War, is that it’s the most direct, easiest way for Eplear to gain his revenge against what remains of the Cyrodiiic Empire.  He is not coming to Skyrim as a Hero of the People, or as a loyalist to the Stormcloak cause, he simply wants to kill as many Imperials as possible and do anything to weaken their power. 

    Mod List: Imperious - Races of SkyrimOrdinator - Perks of SkyrimAurora - Standing Stones of SkyrimWildcat - Combat of SkyrimKing Crusader Mega Pack

    Perks: 

    Archery –Archery Mastery 2/2, Clean Kill, Long Shot 2/3 and Wingstrike 2/2 

    Heavy Armor – Heavy Armor Mastery 2/2, Battle Weary, Heavy Armor Fit, Rallying Standard, Defiance and Face of Death. 

    Speech: Speech Mastery 2/2 and Speak with Animals 

    [17 Perks] 

    Gameplay: 

    King Eplear’s combat style is an interesting blend of relying on distance but having the ability to fight in close quarters, or at least to survive there. Clean Kill and Long Shot are generally more effective when used against enemies that are far away and at full health, potentially doing 50% more damage as an absolute minimum, and this only increasing the further away an enemy is from you. However, Rallying Standard and Defiance are both excellent perks for when an enemy comes closer and can physically attack you from melee distance, with the later even increasing your AR the more times your hit. The combination of Speak with Animals and Lunar Familiar also kind of benefits you in close combat, the two animals that you have following you around can act as extra threats up close, but tend to be a bit frail (though Rallying Standard should boost their AR). So, King Eplear can, theoretically act as the Tank of the team despite being an Archer. 

    The animals are another unique part of this build. You have two followers by using Speak with Animals and Lunar Familiar. Arguably the one from the Lady Stone (the Lunar Cat) is the most useful because it scales with you, and you can set it on a target, where it takes less damage and deals more against that single target once a day. However, the other two can add some interesting dynamics to your team. Perhaps you choose a Chaurus or Frostbite Spider to be your Speak with Animals follower, and they can use their poison attacks, giving you a bit more range, and the ability to wear down your opponents. The Frostbite Spider also pairs well with Battle Weary, allowing you to shrug off more damage if enemies are low on Stamina. 

    Overall, combat is very much what you’d expect from an Archer. He’s a little weaker to Melee Fighters just because they can be rather difficult to hit in close combat, but Archers are just a complete non-factor unless you’ve got a mod that adds staggering on attack interruption (like I did, still barely an issue). The high AR makes arrows almost ineffective against Eplear, and his powerful longer ranged attacks makes it easier to damage the Archers back. Mages are somewhat in the middle of the two, but somewhat towards the easy side. Because your only going to be reaching Level 18-20, there really aren’t that many powerful mages that have long ranged attacks. Most are still going to be running around with Frostbite/Sparks/Flames with a few having access to Apprentice level spells, which are still rather easy to dodge. Dragons are a complete foil to this character because they have a powerful ranged magic attack, and they can be rather difficult to hit with a bow (most of the time). 

     


     

    Closing Notes

    Thanks for dropping by everyone, had an absolute blast working with Flamez on this build, dunno how we managed to get it done so quickly (relatively at least) but the whole experience was generally pretty fun. The character of King Eplear is one that I've been aiming to cover for a fairly long time now (and may end up covering in different forms in the future) but Flamez came up with some really awesome ideas that made the character a lot more interesting than I could've. So I'd recommend checking out his Fallout Builds, and the tag above for his Skyrim Builds. Mine are linked as well if you want to check them out (just use the Dragonborn1721 tag)

  • November 27, 2017

    YES! Good to see this out Flamez, thanks for posting it :D I'll go sort out all the Workshop stuff (linking the build in the Event, deleting the WiP and all that).

  • Member
    November 27, 2017

    Mega-Dragonborn-of-Doom (1921) said:

    YES! Good to see this out Flamez, thanks for posting it :D I'll go sort out all the Workshop stuff (linking the build in the Event, deleting the WiP and all that).

    Thanks, had a great time working with you! Guess I should've checked before pm-ing you about it xD

  • November 29, 2017

    Great little build Flamez. That picture with the caped Elf is sick, sick, sick. Nice work. 

  • Member
    November 29, 2017

    The Long-Chapper said:

    Great little build Flamez. That picture with the caped Elf is sick, sick, sick. Nice work. 

    Ah, courtesy to DB for that one, I did the top bits and the write-up mostly :P

    Thank you though!

  • Member
    November 30, 2017

    Okay. I so love the idea of a Heavy Armor archer--one that doesn't feel the need to turn tail and run when things get close and intense!

    Also, I know very little about Eplear... gonna have to dig around a bit now; you guys got me curious ;D

  • Member
    November 30, 2017

    BTW, this build has been featured on the TV Twitter page :D

  • November 30, 2017

    Yeah, he's pretty interesting, managed to get a whole paragraph on UESP. I mean, he's only the very first Bosmeri King who united Valenwood from a collection of tribes into an actual country (I dunno...is country the correct term? You can't call them provinces if it's before Imperial Reign but...anyway), probably never going to be expanded on because that's just boring stuff right there :P

    But yeah, playing a Heavy Armour Archer was fun, haven't played one for awhile.

    Thanks for the feature as well Shin :D

  • Member
    December 2, 2017

    Flamez, this is very cool. Eplear has been understated by history in a way, what he achieved versus what is written doesn't do him justice. Until now, I guess, as finally you come along with this unique build using some very interesting mods to remind us of his feats. In many ways Eplear shows a side to the Bosmer that we don't see normally. I really do think this build is wonderful. Heavy armour's Rallying Standard is something I enjoyed playing with, as is Speech's Speak with Animals, and when combined I reckon we're seeing a rather tanky Wood Elf with a very fun combat style. The Lady Stone's power from Aurora is something I've wanted to dive into since DB opened my eyes to it. You know, I think I can see myself playing this and being very happy. If Eplear was a queen and the heavy armour was from Book of UUNP :P Good job, dude!