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Character Build: Reinhardt, Knight of Talos

Tags: #Race:Nord  #Character Build Knight  #Character Build Mods  #Ordinator  #SE Rank:Apprentice  #21 TES Classes 
  • Member
    July 20, 2018

    Reinhardt

     

    Reinhardt, the Knight of Talos

     

    This is the sixth installment in what will be a twenty-one part series. I have been working on this project for literally three years. The goal is to create twenty-one different builds for the twenty-one classes from the Elder Scrolls (TES) series. Albino put together a similar project that served as an inspiration, but I fleshed each class out into a full on character and have been tinkering with these builds over the course of three different consoles (PS3, PS4 and XB1). I have an extensive mod list that can be viewed here. Most of these builds have been directly inspired by other builds on the Tamriel Vault, and those builds will be cited below as well.

    I followed a number of self-imposed rules and restrictions when making these builds. Each has exactly seven skills, with at least one of them a crafting skill. Five of the seven skills must come from the pool of skills used by the class in past TES games, allowing each character two additional free skills. I used information from Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion to determine the skill pool for each class. Each build must have at least three skills in their specialization (Magic, Combat or Stealth), and cannot have more than three skills from a single other specialization. Over all twenty-one builds, I incorporated every gender, race, skill, weapon class and faction at least once, if not more. The result is a literal cast of characters spanning every aspect of TES V: Skyrim. The sixth build I will present is my Knight - Reinhardt, the Knight of Talos.

    The year was 4E 174 - Reinhardt was a twenty six year old recruit for the noble Blades, training at Cloud Ruler Temple under his master Acilius Bolar when the Great War broke out. During the Sack of the Imperial City, Reinhardt and Bolar fought valiantly against the Dominion forces, but were eventually overwhelmed as countless Blades were slaughtered by the Thalmor. Accepting their defeat, they fled amidst the chaos, donning simple tunics and disguising themselves as an elderly farmer and his son. The pair began the long trek to Skyrim, and once they crossed the border into Reinhardt's ancestral homeland, Bolar commanded Reinhardt to take on a new life and forget everything he ever knew about the Blades. Bolar fled to take refuge in the wilderness of Skyrim, but not after making Reinhardt promise him he would never speak of his past life as a Blade at the Temple. Reinhardt, sworn to secrecy, agreed and began his new life as a simple farmer after Bolar fled into the wild. Twenty six years later, Reinhardt can no longer tend to his crops with news of both a civil war and the appearance of a dragon. Finally embracing his past, he is committed to the restoration of his former order to protect his homeland, and his first mission is to discover the final resting place of his mentor Bolar.

    Rein in action

    Reinhardt is more than intimidating when on the field of battle.

    Age: 52 Gender: Male Race: Nord Class: Knight Specialization: Combat (5 of 7 skills) Attributes: Personality, Strength

    Spouse: Sylgja or Morwen Follower: Erik the Squire Deities: Talos Home: Routa Alignment: Neutral Good

    Factions: Blades, Stormcloaks Magicka/Health/Stamina0 / 2 / 1 Standing Stone: The Warrior, then the Lord

    Major Skills

    Heavy Armor: Reinhardt prefers heavy plate, and has spent countless nights working on armor inspired by both what he remembers of the Blades set and his own devotion to Talos. This handcrafted suit is one of the most exquisite in Skyrim, and Reinhardt uses it with confidence. Reinhardt's set of full heavy armor deflects many an incoming attack. Rallying Standard is a key perk as it places a banner that grants 150 points of armor and 25% melee damage to allies within 25 feet wearing all Heavy Armor (including you) and prevents them from fleeing. This is a very "knightly" perk in my eyes, and works wonders with your Squire, Erik the Slayer.

    Heavy Armor Mastery (2/2), Cushioned (2/2), Battle Weary, Heavy Armor Fit, Defiance, Face of Death, Rallying Standard, Born to Fight, Revel in Battle, Bedrock, Break Upon Me, Never Kneel, Lead the Tempest, Reap the Whirlwind, Out of the Inferno, Warbringer, Immortal, Sovereign, Face of the Mountain (21 perks)

    Two-Handed: While the Blades typically used a sword and shield and trained Reinhardt extensively with such, he now prefers using a greatsword. Reinhardt often recalled stories of ancestral Nords he heard as a child from his father, who longed to return to Skyrim, and those Nords always charged into battle without a shield but with massive blades that could cleave an enemy in two. Reinhardt is one of four builds that use both one-handed and two-handed weapons. Focusing on both of these skills is uncommon, but it brings a nice change of pace to your gameplay and allows you to vary your playstyle within the same build. I prefer to have different enchantments on my swords as that allows me to prepare for enemies who may be resistant to one of the two elements I have. This is very helpful when using the Know Your Enemy mod. A key perk here is Wolkfin, which summons a Spirit Wolf for 30 seconds after performing two consecutive power attacks. The idea of a wolf spirit seemed very Nordic to me, and I think it is a pretty cool perk for a true Nord like Reinhardt.   

    Two-Handed Mastery (2/2), Trained Fighter, Clash of Heroes (3/3), Ferocious Strength, Maul (2/2), Breach the Wall, Trample, Death or Glory, Subjugate, Humiliate, Massacre, Overthrow, Wolfkin, Bear Hide, Enter the Arena, Voice of Rage and Ruin, Slayer of a Thousand Sons (21 perks)

    One-Handed: Reinhardt was formally trained by the Blades for over ten years before the fall of Cloud Ruler Temple. Even once he began his life as a farmer in Skyrim, he trained with old rusty iron swords for hours every night. A simple and deliberate swordsman, Reinhardt will at times rely on the hallmark sword and shield combination used by many a knight. This combination of sword perks allow Reinhardt to cut through crowds of enemies and continually knock them back with Windswept while following up with vicious Thundering Blows every 9th strike. Feel free to switch between greatsword and sword/shield whenever you want, but try to ensure all three skills are leveling up at the same rate!

    One-Handed Mastery (2/2), Disciplined Fighter, Clash of Champions (3/3), Cross Cut (2/2), Furious Strength, Falling Sword, Overrun, Windswept, Into the Dust, Thundering Blow, Judgment, Aftershock, Wandering Warrior (17 perks)

    Minor Skills

    Block: Reinhardt has mastered blocking with both a shield and a sword. He uses strategic blocks when wielding either his shield or greatsword and fights in a very defensive and strategic manner, more similar to a knight in a melee battle than to a typical Nord berserker. This tree allows Reinhardt to use both his shield and greatsword as effective blocking tools. While Mocking Blow is a perk that is specific to bashing with a weapon, I excluded it here as it did not seem like a very chivalrous ability. Unstoppable Force and Dragon Scales will proof to be more than enough when it comes to blocking.

    Block Mastery (2/2), Timed Block (2/2), Deflect Arrows, Poke the Dragon, Apocalypse Proof (2/2), Power Bash, Quick Reflexes, Skull Rattler, Dragon Tail, Block Runner, Cast Aside, Unstoppable Force, Dragon Scales (16 perks)

    Speech: Reinhardt will soon discover he is Dragonborn, and will fully embrace his role as the defender of Tamriel against Alduin, the World-Eater. The Speech tree in Ordinator allows you to focus on perks that enhance your shouts. All of these are essential and very helpful for a shout-heavy build such as this.

    Speech Mastery (2/2), And the Universe Listens, Windborne, Force Redoubled (2/2), Hurricane Force, Thu'um of War, Merciless Storm, Dovahzulaan (10 perks)

    Crafting Skills

    Smithing: Reinhardt is a master armor smith, and his Talos Housecarl armor is some of the best in all of Skyrim. I tried to be a bit more basic in this category and limited myself to armor. There is no need to worry about Stahlrim or Dragonbone, and the Level 100 perk in this tree seems to be a bit too much in my opinion.

    Smithing Mastery (2/2), Advanced Workshop (choose Routa's workbench), Meric Smithing (1/2) (choose Dwarven), Arcane Blacksmith, Expert Smithing (1/2) (choose Scaled/Plate/Nordic), Smithing Specialization (choose Heavy Armor), Iron Lore (8 perks)

    Alchemy: Reinhardt is an apprentice alchemist, who brews basic healing potions and simply fortifying elixirs with ingredients he harvests on his travels. Even more basic than smithing is Reinhardt's approach to alchemy. Essentially, you want to brew occassional restore health potions and then some fortify one-handed or heavy armor potions on top of that. Nothing fancy.

    Alchemy Mastery (2/2), Physician (choose Health), Experimenter, Green Thumb, Pure Mixture (6 perks)

    This totals 99 perks. With 50% More Perk Points enabled, the build will be completed at level 66Note - due to the number of perks my builds seem to require, I have added two additional perk point mods - 20% More Perk Points and Perk Points at Skill Levels 50-75-100. If you add these, the build can be completed by ~ level 52.

    Knight

    The Knight's starting kit, as seen in Morrowind.

    Arsenal and Armory

    Reinhardt uses a trio of sword, shield and greatsword as he embodies the classic image of the Knight, who usually uses "sword and board" but is also often depicted with a massive greatsword. There are a few specific weapons to hunt down as well: Dragonbane, Stormfang, and most importantly Bolar's Oathblade. You should also collect a regular Blades Sword, a Nord Hero Sword and Greatsword, a Skyforge Steel Sword and Greatsword, and a Nordic Greatsword. If you are on XB1, I cannot recommend the Old Kingdom Weapon Overhaul enough as it gives all of these weapons new meshes and textures, with the unique weapons having even more distinct appearances. 

    Reinhardt is no mage, but is not opposed to using basic enchantments on his swords as a way to personalize them. Try making a sword or greatsword with a Frost of Shock enchantment, and calling it Hjalti's Sword, Talos’ Might or the Stormcrown Blade. 

    Reinhardt's signature armor is the Talos Housecarl Set, which offers an incredibly detailed Talos-themed set of armor and various accessories to go along with it. I passed on the weapons in the mod, but feel free to try different variants of the cape, helm and shield as they are all amazing.

    A true Dragonborn, shouts are a big part of this build. As usual, I stick to more thematically appropriate shouts and focus on a select group. Reinhardt is one of my premier users of the Thu'um along with Alabane, the Dragon Hunter of High Rock. Reinhardt fully embraces the prophecy of the Last Dragonborn and uses the following shouts: Battle Fury, Call of Valor, Clear Skies, Dragonrend, Lightning Shield, Storm Blast, Storm Call, Unrelenting Force, War Cry and Whirlwind Sprint. Three of these: Lightning Shield, Storm Blast and War Cry come from the awesome Thunderchild mod, and fit the Knight of Talos perfectly.

    His racial ability is the Avatar, which a Nord gains after clearing 10 of Skyrim's dungeons. Add in a few more Lesser Powers - Companion’s Insight, North Wind, Secret of Strength and Seeker of Might - and Reinhardt should have a devastating arsenal of abilities to employ in battle.

    Special Attacks

    The inspiration for this build came from two places - my desire to build a Knight that was more than the generic, chivalrous Knight Errant and by a real hidden gem of a build called The Forgotten Knight. I took Greg's superb idea of a forgotten knight of Talos and expanded on it in a way that I thought would add some more character to the idea. The special attacks here are based very much on Greg's build, so credit goes to him for these great ideas.

    For Talos!: Whirlwind Sprint + Windborne + Rallying Standard. Reinhardt charges into battle with blinding speed and plants his rallying banner to signal his arrival. 

    Defend the Faith: Potion of Fortify One-Handed + Unrelenting Force + Overrun. While his alchemical knowledge is basic, Reinhardt crafts strong potions to enhance his martial ability. Unrelenting Force is a great crowd control move, and you can follow up with a sprinting power attack on the strongest target.

    Staunch Protector: Potion of Fortify Heavy Armor + Storm Call + Trample. This is an alternative to Defend the Faith when you are using a greatsword. It strengthens your defenses while the lightning storm takes out weaker enemies.

    Quests

    Main Quest, Stormcloaks, Dragonborn, Missing in Action, The White Phial, Blood on the Ice, The Ghost of Old Hroldan, The Forsworn Conspiracy (side with the Silver-Bloods)

    Gameplay

    As mentioned, Reinhardt is my idea of a Knight. I loved the idea of a former Blade restarting his order in the light of recent events, and no other build of mine is more suitable for the main quest of Skyrim. He is also a true Nord with deep resentment for the Thalmor, and while he holds no ill will towards Imperials (he grew up in the Imperial City after all) or other races, he agrees with Ulfric that Skyrim must separate from the Empire as he himself has felt the wrath of the Dominion once before. 

    Reinhardt is a neutral good character who wants to serve others and rescue the innocent when they are endangered. He is certainly a Knight Errant, and that should be kept in mind when you play. There are elements of a Paladin here as well, as Reinhardt is devoted to Talos and calls upon him for strength (which is undeniably granted through the use of shouts). However, my upcoming Divine Crusader build is a more straight-forward take on that idea. Reinhardt is a bit more down-to-earth.

    A key part of being a Knight is having a Squire, and Erik the Slayer is a perfect choice. You see him go from a simple farm boy to an eager adventurer, and Reinhardt clearly sees much of himself in Erik. Recruit him ASAP and try to outfit him in what you think is appropriate Squire armor. A Stormcloak Cuirass and a simple sword should work fine.

    Routa is the perfect home for a Stormcloak, and you should expect to set up base there and spend a bunch of time in Windhelm. As a result, try to finish Blood on the Ice and the White Phial right away, as the first helps settle down the buggy-as-hell Windhelm and the latter gives you a nice little boon to rely upon when times get tough, and it fits in nicely with Reinhardt's simple alchemist approach.

    Again, think of Reinhardt as the more noble side of the Stormcloaks. He is proud, honorable and chivalrous, unlike the poor, racist xenophobes you meet when you first enter Windhelm. He has felt the oppression of the Dominion first hand, and wants to ensure that does not ever come to Skyrim. If this means war with the Empire, so be it. Moreover, the arrival of Alduin and subsequently Miraak quickly emerge as more existential threats that let Reinhardt's true nature shine.

    Necessary Mods: Ordinator, Imperious, Summermyst, Andromeda, Thunderchild, Talos Housecarl Armor, Routa and 50% More Perk Points

    Inspirations: As mentioned, Greg's Forgotten Knight. It's a really cool, unique take on the Blades and inspired this build. The little information we have on the Order of Talos also helped me formulate this, as I wanted Reinhardt to be less of an Emperor-protecting-bodyguard Blade and much more of a Knight of Talos Blade. His position as the Last Dragonborn allows him to shape the future of the organization as well. Thanks for reading and I hope you try it out! Art is from TES: Legends and taken from The Elder Scrolls Wiki.

  • July 22, 2018

    Man this one was really nice Dean, just really really nice. There's something about this character that just kind of works for me, probably mostly to do with that realyl nice choice to work with Bolar and that being the justification for the use of the Oathblade. Other then that, love the presentation as always and I think the skill justification here was nice, it can be kind of difficult to work One and Two-Handed into the build but you managed it pretty damn well...So yeah, great build mate :)

  • Member
    July 26, 2018

    Dragonborn2021 said:

    Man this one was really nice Dean, just really really nice. There's something about this character that just kind of works for me, probably mostly to do with that realyl nice choice to work with Bolar and that being the justification for the use of the Oathblade. Other then that, love the presentation as always and I think the skill justification here was nice, it can be kind of difficult to work One and Two-Handed into the build but you managed it pretty damn well...So yeah, great build mate :)

    Thanks! I like the idea of the Knight being a classic sword and shield fighter, but there's something about a Nord Knight with a greatsword that works very well. It also gives him an alternative form of combat, which I like to do with most of my builds as it keeps you interested and able to use some different weapons while also avoiding the "jack of all trades" type of build. There are some great weapons in Old Kingdom, both for one-handed and two-handed swords, so this really utilizes that to its maximum potential. And, funnily enough, I only have 6 of 21 builds that use two-handed at all, so I really try to incorporate it when I can as there are some builds (most "Thief" based builds like Assassin, Bard and "Mage" based ones too) that do not seem like they work with two-handed weapons. I only use them on my Knight, my Warrior, my Barbarian, my Crusader, my Battlemage and, surprisingly, my Acrobat.

  • Member
    July 26, 2018
    This is nice except for one thing, mods. Why do mods elevate one mod’s admiration over another build that uses a more natural building process? The only build with mods I like is the bosmeri wildmage.
  • July 27, 2018

    William said: This is nice except for one thing, mods. Why do mods elevate one mod’s admiration over another build that uses a more natural building process? The only build with mods I like is the bosmeri wildmage.

    So, I'm curious about this William. How would you say that there's a difference between people's admiration of modded and unmodded builds? I mean, naturally individuals have different opinions but overall I'd say that there isn't a huge difference between how modded and unmodded builds are percieved. Yes modded builds are a bit fresher than unmodded builds but I'd say that, from my experience the only thing that really matters is the quality of a build.

    Just curious about your thoughts on it mostly.

  • July 27, 2018

    Thanks! I like the idea of the Knight being a classic sword and shield fighter, but there's something about a Nord Knight with a greatsword that works very well. It also gives him an alternative form of combat, which I like to do with most of my builds as it keeps you interested and able to use some different weapons while also avoiding the "jack of all trades" type of build. There are some great weapons in Old Kingdom, both for one-handed and two-handed swords, so this really utilizes that to its maximum potential. And, funnily enough, I only have 6 of 21 builds that use two-handed at all, so I really try to incorporate it when I can as there are some builds (most "Thief" based builds like Assassin, Bard and "Mage" based ones too) that do not seem like they work with two-handed weapons. I only use them on my Knight, my Warrior, my Barbarian, my Crusader, my Battlemage and, surprisingly, my Acrobat.

    I think it's worked pretty well so far, your builds still feel focused but I could easily see this one playing rather well because your changing up strategies at a decent pace. It can get a bit boring when your just repeating the same attack pattern for each battle, so there's definitely enough here to make it feel like your changing stuff up.

    I just realized that most of my favourite builds that use Two-Handed tend to be a bit more on the mage-side...Usually a bit of the old 'Unarmoured' Mage with Two-Handed, Restoration, Alteration...maybe Illusion or Speech depending on mods and everything. Kind of strange...

  • Member
    July 27, 2018

    Dragonborn, I don't hate the use of mods. I would, however, like a build that uses its mods as a sort of story telling device rather than having a build that just uses mods so that it uses them with no real purpose for driving the build. Do you know what I'm getting at?

  • Member
    July 27, 2018
    William to be honest I’m not sure what you are getting at. I play on XB1 and have almost 150 mods installed. The only reason I’m still playing Skyrim 7 years after the release date is because of mods. I’ve long had this plan of creating very lore-driven characters based on the original character classes and feel that I’m doing a pretty good job of illustrating different characters to build, which is the point of this site. I only list the mods I use that feel critical to the development of that character. I’d appreciate it if you did not comment on my builds with your general criticism of mods as a whole as that is a wildly different subject entirely. Thank you.
  • July 27, 2018

    William said: This is nice except for one thing, mods. Why do mods elevate one mod’s admiration over another build that uses a more natural building process? The only build with mods I like is the bosmeri wildmage.

    Dean said: William to be honest I’m not sure what you are getting at. I play on XB1 and have almost 150 mods installed. The only reason I’m still playing Skyrim 7 years after the release date is because of mods. I’ve long had this plan of creating very lore-driven characters based on the original character classes and feel that I’m doing a pretty good job of illustrating different characters to build, which is the point of this site. I only list the mods I use that feel critical to the development of that character. I’d appreciate it if you did not comment on my builds with your general criticism of mods as a whole as that is a wildly different subject entirely. Thank you.

    Well, the build is super easy to recreate without mods, William, if you really want to. Based on my calculations, it'll take you to around level 47 with Vanilla perks, perhaps a bit more if you feel like perking, certainly no higher than level 51. Use summon werebear from one of the Allmaker stones to simulate the wolfy thing I'm guessing one of the Ordinator perks does and possibly the Talos amulet glitch to get you more shout cooldown, though really blessing of Talos and talos amulet is more than enough, geez people. :D Dragonborn books would be great for this build, especially the stamina and wyrm one, and yeah, I like the idea of the Whitephial and possibly the ring of pure mixtures to give a nice Nordic boost to things without it being too crazy. Helm of yngol or even Otar or Rahgot would be sweet paired with Nordic carved armor for the look it's not talos housecarl stuff, but it looks pretty sweet. You can probably stick with Bolar's Oathblade, but by higher levels, dragonbane, improved blades swords, Nordic Carved or Ebony will out do that sword unfortunately. Live in Breezehome first and then Hjerim once it becomes available. Targe of the blooded is an unsung shield for this build. Very delicious.

    Shouts are roughly the same minus the modded shouts. Standard game gives you battlecry for the nordic power which I like a lot anyway. 

    Take the steed stone if you want to avoid heavy armor's left hand tree. You can even scale this build down to level 40 or 35 if you nix some higher tier perks. 

    But, to the build.

    The rp and presentation for this build is rather nice and kudos for making him an old fart! I'd up the rp by going no stamina because well, old fart, but that's just how I role old dudes. So break out the veggie soup. Did that for my Winter Bear and never regretted it. I can see that you put effort into the concept of the build and I understand what you are doing with your overall arcing concept which are all the classes, but done on a more personal level. I can get behind that 100%, since I have several series projects myself, the Pure skills series with Deebs, and my Seasons series. 

    What I am missing and gah, from me, I know, the Long-Chapper who writes stories, is a substantial gameplay section. Yours reads like a roleplay section, and believe me, I know how to write those. Gameplay is much harder to do and I understand that. I really think when I'm writing mine, because I go on hyperdrive because gameplay is my weakest, so I then work super hard on it to offer something different, not gimmicky different, but something based on rp, or a neat trick that fits the race, that sort of thing. I'm brand new to Ordinator, so treat me like I'm stupid and tell me how these new toys work and more importantly, tell me why I need them for this guy. For example, I don't know what the heck Breach the Wall is. I know to take it, because you told me too, but I don't know what it does. Even if I build on Vanilla perks with only minor mod enhancement, which I almost always do, I give a brief explanation why key perks are taken and their mechanics behind them, so you can create synergy with the skills. Does that make sense to you?

     

  • Member
    July 27, 2018

    Thank you Long-Chapper, that is some awesome constructive criticism and is very, very helpful. I really struggle with the gameplay section myself and it's mostly because Ordinator is, to be honest, overwhelming. It offers so much and the perks do so many different things that it all kind of blends together for me. I could consider leaving the perk descriptions in, but it might make the build way too long since it looks like I float right around 90 perks per build.

    For example, Breach the Wall - Forwards power attacks with a greatsword that would leave the target above 60% Health deal enough additional damage to make up the difference. Listing all the descriptions would really lengthen out the builds but it would make it an even larger wall of text. It might be an option, but I should at least list maybe 3 Key Perks per tree and list out the descriptions and why they are taken. I am not sure how to alter it because I do feel like it is a big wall of text, but maybe I will try my next build by keeping in the descriptions and putting the Key Perks in bold. Thanks again for the feedback!