Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Primordial Beast

Tags: #Race:Nord  #Character Build Warrior  #Character Build Battlemage  #Character Build Werewolf  #SE Rank:Novice  #Tysoyaha 
  • January 8, 2018

     

    Concept:

    My concept was that werewolves are awesome. So I wanted to find a way to make beast form viable late game while also incentivizing it's use throughout. To do this I basically used the werewolf equipment stacking glitch to equip weapons and armor as a werewolf. This actually makes werewolf attacks slightly underpowered at first, but raises the damage cap dramatically later on. It also allows you to train your weapon and armor skills in beast form.

     


    Background:

    You are Ysgrakin, a strong and noble Nord. Your name was given to you by your parents, a bold move for a family with no ties to the Companions or relation to Ysgramor. It was, however, a sign of respect and you were raised to admire and revere those honorable enough to be called Shield-Brothers.

    It was no secret that you strived to one day join them. You even began studying destruction magic in the hopes that it would set you apart from other candidates. This caused some tension with the other Nords but ultimately worked in your favor...though not in the way you had expected. Kodlak Whitemane heard about your studies and was impressed by your tenacity in the face of prejudice. He looked forward to the day you would call Jorrvaskr home, but believed that only you would know when you were ready.

    Like most Nords your knack for traditional magic is limited, but in your studies you tapped into your own internal "spark of life" allowing you to accomplish amazing feats like summon thunder storms, temporarily become an invulnerable spectre of pure energy and channeling lightning through your weapons (or claws, as you'd later find out).

     

     


    Build:

    Race - Nord
    It fits the roleplay and grants you the greater power Battle Cry, which can sometimes make for easier transformations.

    Standing Stone - The Lord Stone
    This helps mitigate the vulnerability of using the Ring of Bloodlust.

    Magic/Health/Stamina - 0/1/2
    Werewolf power attacks consume a LOT of stamina. The more you have, the better.

    Skills - Block, Heavy Armor, Two Handed, Enchanting, Destruction
    Heavy Armor and Two Handed will gain experience while in Beast Form, so you may want to focus on Destruction and Block while in human form. At least as much as your limited mana will allow.

    Powers - Battle Cry, Beast Form, Secret Servant
    Secret Servant is to equip weapons and armor as a werewolf without the use of a follower. The timing is also much easier, just conjure your butler then activate Beast Form. He'll initiate conversation regardless of your current form.

    Abilities - Force Without Effort, Seeker of Sorcery
    It's hard to definitively test these, but Force Without Effort seems to have Werewolfs regular attacks causing knockdowns slightly more often and Seeker of Sorcery causes Ebony Mail do a bit more damage.

    Shouts - Storm Call, Become Ethereal
    Storm Call is a great shout that'll last well into your werewolf transformation and Become Ethereal will benefit your human form with the phase shifting strategy.

    Spells - Chain Lightning, Lightning Cloak
    Shock projectiles will provide much needed ranged damage and help train destruction. Lightning Cloak stacks with Ebony Mail and carries over into Beast Form.

    Weapons - Wuuthrad, Dragon Priest Staff
    Enchant Wuuthrad with shock damage and soul trap. The Dragon Priest Staff is so you can set up some DoT when you run out of mana and switch to melee.

    Armor - Zahkriisos, Ebony Mail, Shield of Ysgramor, Ebony Gauntlets, Ebony Boots
    Enchant your Gauntlets with Fortify Magic/Two Handed and enchant your Boots with Fortify Stamina/Stamina Regen.

    Jewellery - Amulet of Talos, Ring of Hircine, Ring of Bloodlust
    Make sure to be wearing the Ring of Bloodlust when starting the quest "Ill Met by Moonlight". The Cursed Ring of Hircine will forcibly remove it leaving the enchantment permanently equipped.

    Companions - Faendal
    Faendal can be used to equip werewolf armor and weapons before you get a butler and makes for an easy sacrifice once you're ready to obtain Ebony Mail.

     

     


    Perks:

    Block - Shield Wall (1/5), Deflect Arrows, Elemental Protection, Block Runner
    These perks are meant to compliment your ranged combat, blocking arrows and reducing spell damage.

    Heavy Armor - Juggernaut (5/5), Well Fitted, Tower of Strength, Matching Set, Reflect Blows
    With armor equipped, all these perks will carry over to Beast Form, even Reflect Blows.

    Two Handed - Barbarian (5/5), Champions Stance, Devastating Blow, Great Critical Charge, Sweep, Warmaster, Limbsplitter (3/3)
    Barbarian, Limbsplitter, Champions Stance and the extra damage (but not the decapitations) from Devastating Blow all carry over to Beast Form. They'll be the priority.

    Enchanting - Enchanter (5/5), Storm Enchanter, Extra Effect, Soul Squeezer
    The important perks here require a high enchanting skill and several perk points so while you'll want them before enchanting Wuuthrad, training the skill to much to soon can leave you feeling out leveled.

    Destruction - Adept Destruction, Augmented Shock (2/2), Disintegrate
    Don't ignore this skill, you have much more powerful weapons but obtaining these perks will enhance their damage as well.

     


    Combat Forms:

    Battlemage - With a shield in one hand and lighting projectiles in the other, your ranged combat form is also your most tactical. Capable of Banked Shots, spell blocking and arrow deflecting from a distance; or shield bashing, Phase Shifting and setting up Electromagnetic Field when enemies get too close.

     

    Barbarian - The Barbarian toes the line between strategist and powerhouse. The damage output is higher, but melee blocking is still possible and certain techniques that are typically set up in battlemage form (like Phase Shifting and Electromagnetic Field) are best utilized by the barbarian.

     

    Lycanthrope - You can't always use Beast Form without severe consequence, but that's probably a good thing because it's an absolute powerhouse. Equipping Wuuthrad while a werewolf basically allows you to inflict Two Handed damage at dual wielding speeds. Enchantments carry over (including Ebony mails poison cloak) and Beastial Strength/Ring of Bloodlust both apply to Two Handed damage. The added damage from Bloodlust, and the vulnerability while feeding make you a bit of a glass cannon...but we have ways of addressing both problems.

     

     


    Special Tactics:

    Electromagnetic Field - If enemies draw too near, or you've simply run out of mana then the Dragon Priest Staff can be used to set up a field of lasting shock damage. Combined that with Lightning Cloak and Ebony Mail and some weaker enemies might just fall dead before you even strike them. Even much stronger ones will be severely crippled.
    Requires: Dragon Priest Staff, Lightning Cloak

     

    Phase Shifting - Switching between ranged and melee can take forever when using Two Handed weapons, leaving you vulnerable to attack. Luckily, just one word of your Become Ethereal shout will turn it into pure energy long enough to unsheathe Wuuthrad and even get off a power attack without having to use stamina. 
    Requires: Become Ethereal, Wuuthrad

     

    Storm Charge - Storm Call can be charged while blocking, making it easier to safely use all three words without leaving yourself vulnerable to attack. Simply lower your shield when you're ready to activate the shout. Enemies can even be bashed while Block Shouting, but I've noticed you have to lower your shield immediately after doing so or the shout might not activate.
    Requires: Shield of Ysgramor, Storm Call

     

    Wild Hunt - While in Beast Form your greatest weakness will be how vulnerable you are while feeding. Luckily, using your Howl will cancel the feed animation and allow you to move around while causing many enemies to flee. You still can't fight back until you complete the Howl animation, but guess what? That can be cancelled too, just use a power attack. In fact, by strong over a corpse and pressing activate, shout then attack all in quick succession you can heal, activate Fear, and power attack simultaneously without missing a beat.
    Requires: Totem of Fear, Power Attacks

     


    Roleplay/Restrictions:

    No Fast Travel - I myself don't have the patience to walk everywhere in this game but it is true that you miss a lot of interesting things if you fast travel everywhere. If you're like me, and haven't done a "no fast travel" playthrough yet then take advantage of the Werewolf's running speed so you can explore a bit without wanting to pull your hair out that you're going so slow.

    Very High Difficulty - You want to be able to feel the discrepancy in power between werewolf and human form...and even as a human you aren't exactly a pushover. I found that Legendary would occasionally make beast form more of a necessity than a luxury, which kept things interesting. I found myself making tough decisions like if being able to even leave a scratch on a dragon was worth the guards seeing me become a werewolf. A train of thought that I felt was very roleplay appropriate.

     

     


    Tips/Tricks:

    Alternative Gameplay - This build works with the Cursed Ring of Hircine as well. If you quickly hit the powers button as soon as your screen goes blurry your Butler will spawn and walk up to you as you're transforming. This means is a bad idea to have anything but Secret Servant linked to your powers key though, which I found limiting.

    Alternative Equipment - If you aren't into the Companions roleplay then the Dragonbone Warhammer is probably the coolest looking weapon when strapped to a werewolf's back. Enchant it with fire damage and you have yourself a really strong weapon with some really primal imagery!

  • January 8, 2018

    Thanks for pointing this out to me Tyso, shame the two builds got buried earlier, but it's looking really interesting. I have to admit, from a presentation perspective my absolute favourite part of the build is the little pawprint that you've used as a kind of...replacement for a bullet point or something, really fun little use of an image there that kind of enhances the build even though it's relatively small. Would also recommend just going through and checking for some of the white spaces where you've put in an extra line between paragraphs.


    Oh, and we don't really use the Bloodworks-Legendary Ranks anymore, I mean, they're basically just an archive thing for older builds, so instead, the following set of tags would let you have a bit more of a relevant guideline for how your build is doing likewise (because otherwise, I think we only have a handful of modern Recognized builds and maybe only one or two Exemplar)

    SE Rank:Novce          (0-5 likes)
    SE Rank:Apprentice   (6-10 likes)
    SE Rank:Adept          (11-15 likes)
    SE Rank:Expert         (16-20 likes)
    SE Rank:Master         (21+ likes)

  • January 8, 2018

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

    Thanks for pointing this out to me Tyso, shame the two builds got buried earlier, but it's looking really interesting. I have to admit, from a presentation perspective my absolute favourite part of the build is the little pawprint that you've used as a kind of...replacement for a bullet point or something, really fun little use of an image there that kind of enhances the build even though it's relatively small. Would also recommend just going through and checking for some of the white spaces where you've put in an extra line between paragraphs.


    Oh, and we don't really use the Bloodworks-Legendary Ranks anymore, I mean, they're basically just an archive thing for older builds, so instead, the following set of tags would let you have a bit more of a relevant guideline for how your build is doing likewise (because otherwise, I think we only have a handful of modern Recognized builds and maybe only one or two Exemplar)

    SE Rank:Novce          (0-5 likes)
    SE Rank:Apprentice   (6-10 likes)
    SE Rank:Adept          (11-15 likes)
    SE Rank:Expert         (16-20 likes)
    SE Rank:Master         (21+ likes)

     

    Ah, so that's why some rankings have SE in front of them! I've just been opening the posting guide every time and using that, but I'm learning that some of the stuff on there is dated. I noticed that the numbers were really high, but honestly I liked the idea of not ever having to update it from Bloodworms. Lol. I'll have to go fix my builds now when I get the chance. Thanks DD.