Hey everyone!
After realizing that I won't be playing Skyrim in the foreseeable future, I decided not to sit on the build ideas I got during these years and release them to the public. I'd love to see them posted, so if you want to use them, by all means!
In this post I list the build ideas that visited me throughout these years and some unique tips and tricks never used in a build before. Because of the sheer size of the thread I decided not to put it in the Unwanted Character Build Ideas Thread.
Well, here we go:
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Ash Shell works on Familiar summon. It allows the player to have an indestructible decoy for about 60 seconds, similar to paralyzed zombies in Raidriar's and Curse Never Dying's brilliant Event Build: The Berne Clan. Enemy AI focuses on the closest target so as long as the decoy is active the player just needs to hit enemies from afar to stay completely safe.
Ash Shell is also a great way to keep dog followers safe. Never worry about losing those adorable huskies in the midst of battle again! I tried to use that for a Spinner build idea, using dog followers, Familiar summons, Destruction and Restoration magic to damage distracted targets and healing the dog from time to time, but the idea also used Illusion and I ended up hating it. Some other things I've used for that idea were Falmer Bow and arrows which made Hunter's Discipline perk actually useful and Bromjunaar sanctuary as a storage - hiding dangerous artifacts in the past is exactly what spinners can do and it's shown in ESO.
Alastor's Transient Sorcerer used this trick in a quite inventive way, make sure to check it out!
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Hoarfrost is affected by Elemental Fury. With Augmented Frost to increase its frost damage it can become quite powerful even without upgrading (which is not possible). One drawback is that your attacks don't damage a target frozen by the pickaxe's freeze effect. I played a little with a Skaal shaman idea, using Hoarfrost as the main weapon, wind-themed shouts, All-Maker stones and frost magic but it evolved into my one and only build - Trebbite Monk.
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Another idea I had was a Rueful Axe assassin. Rueful Axe is the slowest swinging melee weapon out there but that drawback is nullified when using Great Critical Charge. It has the same speed as any other two-handed weapon when used that way! The idea was to combine low weight of the axe (lowest smithable two-handed weapon) and Great Critical Charge for pouncing out of shadows aka Henson's Ka Po' Tun and sneak away. The OPness of sneak charge attack combined with smithed battleaxe and preenchanted Fortify Two-Handed gear was to be balanced with having no points in health and stamina (the latter shows the usefulness of the Rueful Axe clearly - you have enough stamina left to escape because of its low weight). Also, as you can see on the picture, the axe looks awesome with Fur Armor!
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Yet another idea that I like to view as unique was of non-sneaking stealthy playstyle. I've tested detection capabilities of various enemies extensively. Walk around with invisibility and muffle and most enemies in the game don't notice you. Only the Forsworn have crazy perception and detect you almost immediately, if you don't perk Stealth. With 100 skill and fully-perked Stealth even they have trouble detecting you. The idea was to run around stealthily, use hit and run tactics and switch to werewolf form when things get tough, using Invisible Werewolf transformation trick. Muffle also worked in beast form, so if you got behind an enemy, he didn't hear the huge werewolf right behind him 
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Last idea was more a RP one than gameplay though it did have unique gameplay elements. The idea was not to use any perks at all and still have a viable and successful character. Her name was Kaylin and she was a proffesional vault cracker. People paid large sums of money for her services and she slipped inside even the most protected vaults, cracked any safe and door. She never took loot from chests, random drops etc., only the item in question. Her only income was through payments. Unperked skills: Sneak, Lockpicking, Speech. She did not kill and always tried to avoid any confrontation. If forced to fight she had scrolls of Storm Atronachs with her (made in Atronach forge).
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Notes
- I have made a board on Pinterest with various art that served as inspiration for these ideas. You can find it here: Link
- Guldun Rock cave has a minimum level of 24. It can be used to farm weapons and armor of Scaled, Steel Plate, Elven and Dwarven quality at level 1. Just need to save the game prior to entering the cave, enter, check the chest, if there is nothing you want - reload that save, repeat. I tried to use it for a Dwemer researcher build, to get Dwarven equipment right from the start.
Hey everyone!
After realizing that I won't be playing Skyrim in the foreseeable future, I decided not to sit on the build ideas I got during these years and release them to the public. I'd love to see them posted, so if you want to use them, by all means!
In this post I list the build ideas that visited me throughout these years and some unique tips and tricks never used in a build before. Because of the sheer size of the thread I decided not to put it in the Unwanted Character Build Ideas Thread.
Well, here we go:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ash Shell works on Familiar summon. It allows the player to have an indestructible decoy for about 60 seconds, similar to paralyzed zombies in Raidriar's and Curse Never Dying's brilliant Event Build: The Berne Clan. Enemy AI focuses on the closest target so as long as the decoy is active the player just needs to hit enemies from afar to stay completely safe.
Ash Shell is also a great way to keep dog followers safe. Never worry about losing those adorable huskies in the midst of battle again! I tried to use that for a Spinner build idea, using dog followers, Familiar summons, Destruction and Restoration magic to damage distracted targets and healing the dog from time to time, but the idea also used Illusion and I ended up hating it. Some other things I've used for that idea were Falmer Bow and arrows which made Hunter's Discipline perk actually useful and Bromjunaar sanctuary as a storage - hiding dangerous artifacts in the past is exactly what spinners can do and it's shown in ESO.
Alastor's Transient Sorcerer used this trick in a quite inventive way, make sure to check it out!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hoarfrost is affected by Elemental Fury. With Augmented Frost to increase its frost damage it can become quite powerful even without upgrading (which is not possible). One drawback is that your attacks don't damage a target frozen by the pickaxe's freeze effect. I played a little with a Skaal shaman idea, using Hoarfrost as the main weapon, wind-themed shouts, All-Maker stones and frost magic but it evolved into my one and only build - Trebbite Monk.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another idea I had was a Rueful Axe assassin. Rueful Axe is the slowest swinging melee weapon out there but that drawback is nullified when using Great Critical Charge. It has the same speed as any other two-handed weapon when used that way! The idea was to combine low weight of the axe (lowest smithable two-handed weapon) and Great Critical Charge for pouncing out of shadows aka Henson's Ka Po' Tun and sneak away. The OPness of sneak charge attack combined with smithed battleaxe and preenchanted Fortify Two-Handed gear was to be balanced with having no points in health and stamina (the latter shows the usefulness of the Rueful Axe clearly - you have enough stamina left to escape because of its low weight). Also, as you can see on the picture, the axe looks awesome with Fur Armor!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yet another idea that I like to view as unique was of non-sneaking stealthy playstyle. I've tested detection capabilities of various enemies extensively. Walk around with invisibility and muffle and most enemies in the game don't notice you. Only the Forsworn have crazy perception and detect you almost immediately, if you don't perk Stealth. With 100 skill and fully-perked Stealth even they have trouble detecting you. The idea was to run around stealthily, use hit and run tactics and switch to werewolf form when things get tough, using Invisible Werewolf transformation trick. Muffle also worked in beast form, so if you got behind an enemy, he didn't hear the huge werewolf right behind him
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last idea was more a RP one than gameplay though it did have unique gameplay elements. The idea was not to use any perks at all and still have a viable and successful character. Her name was Kaylin and she was a proffesional vault cracker. People paid large sums of money for her services and she slipped inside even the most protected vaults, cracked any safe and door. She never took loot from chests, random drops etc., only the item in question. Her only income was through payments. Unperked skills: Sneak, Lockpicking, Speech. She did not kill and always tried to avoid any confrontation. If forced to fight she had scrolls of Storm Atronachs with her (made in Atronach forge).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes
- I have made a board on Pinterest with various art that served as inspiration for these ideas. You can find it here: Link
- Guldun Rock cave has a minimum level of 24. It can be used to farm weapons and armor of Scaled, Steel Plate, Elven and Dwarven quality at level 1. Just need to save the game prior to entering the cave, enter, check the chest, if there is nothing you want - reload that save, repeat. I tried to use it for a Dwemer researcher build, to get Dwarven equipment right from the start.
