Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Nighthawk

Tags: #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Healer  #Character Build Assassin  #Race:Dunmer  #Rank:Exemplar 
  • Member
    July 26, 2012

    First off I just want to thank everyone who helped to get me started with my first build.  This build is... yes its another vampire build... I noticed that there are tons posted but I still wanted to post mine, I had to go a little out of my way to make this build unique but it ended up being both strong and fun to play.  ENJOY!

     The Nighthawk

    The nighthawk started as a very normal dunmer living like so many others in the gray quarter, with little or no food.  But instead of rotting in a gutter he had decided to make a name for himself, he knew of a cave infested with vampires which plagued towns for miles around and he knew if you exterminated them he would be a hero and that maybe the dark elves would earn some respect.

    But his fate was not to be so kind, as he entered the cave he was attacked, such terrible strength they had, enough to crush him with their bare hands, but they didn't... they left him to be fully aware of his blood being drained from his body as the vampire coven gorged themselves.  As soon as he saw his death nearing though, their leader shouted a command "leave him to live in agony of what he soon will become".

    DESCRIPTION

    This build is a little mix of a an archery based assassin and a full on spellsword, this combination allows for infinite versatility and a whole lot of fun!  Mainly you will try and get up close and perform a sneak attack for massive damage, but when that isn't possible you are also a formidable foe up close and personal with your sword.  

    I chose not to use illusion or conjuration partly to give this build some uniqueness but also to give it a strong roleplaying base, would an average dunmer have extensive knowledge of illusion or conjuration magic?  I think not!

    RACE

    Dunmer are naturally resistant to fire while vampires are weak to fire, their partial immunity offsets the vampires weakness and makes it over all a much stronger build against mages and dragons.  

    STAT DISTRIBUTION

    This is an assassin type build so we wont be focusing as much on health as you would with another build but thats what makes it much more enjoyable to play and challenging in an open fight, you really have to use your restoration to stay alive because youll be taking alot of heavy hits.  

    At level 15 this should be your stat spread:  150H-160M-130S  

    You should generally level your stats at 2H-3M-1S until you deem that you have enough stamina and magicka to do well and then go straight health for some durability.

    MAJOR SKILLS

    Restoration, The necromage perk is obviously very powerful when you are a vampire, in this build it mainly just improves your healing abilities to the point that you can heal perfectly fine with the basic "healing" spell.

    One-handed, A sword or a dagger, it doesn't matter as long as its a blade you will use it to carve pieces off of your enemies to feed on their crimson blood.  A sword can be equally deadly as a dagger for sneak attacks because we will only be taking the backstab perk and so both daggers and swords will do 6x damage and by nature swords do more base damage. 

    Sneak, While you can function hidden or discovered you deal out much more damage with much less risk when hidden. When you are hidden you have the advantage of being able to take no damage at all while eliminating enemies before they become a threat. 

    Archery, Archery is both a useful means of providing food to the people of the gray quarter and a deadly method of delivering death.  You will use a bow as your primary weapon until you become a vampire and therefore you should be quite good at it. 

    A drop now is all he needs to find you later

    MINOR SKILLS

    Light armor, wearing light armor allows you to move much faster and to remain unseen much easier both of which are major parts of this build, it also makes sense roleplay wise as any armor would seem light to a vampire because of their enhanced physical strength. 

    Alchemy, mainly you will be using potions to strengthen yourself when not hidden and give your hits a little un expected kick with a paralysis potion, Although you will craft some healing potions you also take on restoration and so poisons will be your main product. 

    GAMEPLAY

    The playstyle of this is basically that of a nightblade with no illusion, you will try to dispatch as many enemies as you can before being detected at which point you will dispatch the rest with a few sword strokes.  The real beauty of this build is the versatility, you can either quickly dispatch your enemies at a distance with poison tipped arrows or sneak in for the kill, but what if im caught?  Doesn't matter to the nighthawk, you wont miss a beat going from sneak attacking to an all out brawl!

    EQUIPMENT

    The equipment you use with this build will include, the dark brotherhood gloves which give you double sneak attack damage, using this you can easily kill most foes in one sneak attack and if not? let them come.  You may also want t0o use the dark brotherhood hood which increases your sneak by 25%, this is mainly used for looks but it can also be quite helpful, dark brotherhood boots are another extremely useful item to use as they have the muffle enchantment which renders your armor noise null. The chestpiece you use is up to you. 

    Is it better to be respected, or feared?

    JOINABLE FACTIONS

    The Dark Brotherhood, The dark brotherhood values true power, power you now possess, they do not judge you on who or what you are, only what you can do. 

    The Thieves Guild, As long as you can get in and get out with the prize you are welcome in the thieves guild. 

    The Vampires (dawnguard)

    SHOUTS

    You can really use any shouts you want with this build, although I prefer Marked for Death or Whirlwind Sprint because marked for death lets you cut straight through enemies armor, and whirlwind sprint to make a quick getaway. 

    STANDING STONE

    The Atronach Stone fortifies magicka by 50 points and grants 50% spell obsorption However, it causes magicka regeneration to decrease by 50%.

    The magicka regeneration decrease may appear to be a disadvantage at first, but when combined with the Recovery perks, the drawbacks can be negated, with the added benefit of an extra 50 magicka points and 50% spell absorption.

    Also given the way the magic regeneration system works, with the more magicka a character has, the more they gain per second. So with a 50% reduction to magic regeneration, the two ways to counteract this effect is to either get another 50% regeneration effect OR double the magicka capacity.

    PERK SPREAD level 25

    The perks for this build are sequential in the fact that you will start out using one handed as a minor skill and alchemy as a major one with no restoration and then progress from you point that you become a vampire.

    Light armor, the light armor skill to this build really is just backup protection and so we won't really grab many perks there, only the base armor rating improvers until later where we will grab perks farther up the left side of the tree. 

    Sneak, the sneak perk tree is essential for this build even though we have almost maxed out the perks we need at level 25, we take one in stealth only to reach higher perks, we then proceed to take muffled movement light foot and silent roll simply because we will be walking around sneaking as much as possible, and finally we grab the most important perk in the sneak tree for this build, backstab which allows us to deal out twelve times our normal damage when wearing dark brotherhood gloves and using a sword. 

    Restoration, Restoration is mainly for the purpose of healing ourselves when going toe to toe with... a dragon?  I don't know but it is essential to keep this build from being the kind of assassin that runs when discovered. We will of course be taking the necromage perk to make all of our spells stronger and we will also be taking the recovery perks to offset the atronach stones -50% magicka regen rate. 

    One-handed, Swords and daggers are the trade weapons of the night hawk while at first a dagger should be used for sneak attacks and a sword for un hidden fighting you can later cut out daggers entirely because once we have taken the backstab perk they will become obsolete. 

    Archery, Archery is really the skill that you will start out with and will be maxed out perk wise by level 25, its really a skill to use before becoming a vampire and to roleplay a hunter.  We take one perk up each side of the tree and a few in overdraw simply to make it a practical skill. 

    Alchemy, Alchemy is a very useful skill for builds whos main focus is not to be in an all out fight, it impliments their attacks to make them stronger when not sneaking and therefore gives them more versatility.  We grab two in alchemist to make all of our potions stronger, then take physician simply to get to the left side of the tree and poisoner, which will make all of our poisons stronger therefore increasing our all out effectiveness. 

    Closing

    This is my first build so please be gentle with me but I would love some criticism and maybe just maybe a compliment or two, like it up!

  • Member
    July 26, 2012

    Hey can someone help me with the font?!  its not supposed to be so spread out... and it doesnt show that way when I try to edit it...

  • July 26, 2012

    Aye, thats weird looking! Sit tight and I'll take a look...

  • July 26, 2012

    I don't want to delete your build by trying to re-format it! Do you have a back-up copy in case my changes don't work matey?

    If not back it up now...

  • Member
    July 26, 2012

    KK got it

  • July 26, 2012

    Hmmm, Ok give me a few minutes then and I'll try and sort it out for you! Dont try and edit it yourself while I'm prodding things...

    The ning editor is clearly female and will bite your penis off if she's not handled with absolute care...

  • Member
    July 26, 2012

    So now shes my ex gf?

  • July 26, 2012

    Yup! Fraid so!

    Tidied things up for you a little, you should be able to add more content as you please...

  • Member
    July 26, 2012

    Thanks so much mason!  what is your opinion of it so far?

  • July 26, 2012

    This is good for a first build, but just try and condense the good bits, sometimes less is more...

    Your concept is cool, but then you rambled and diluted your content by posting an elaborate backstory that could have probably been explained in two paragraphs.

    When you post a build (we have soooo many) you have to grab people within the first few sentances or they won't continue reading and will basically skim read your build.

    So...

    • Condense backstory (alot)
    • Condense description (a little)
    • Elaborate skill choices
    • Elaborate perk choices
    • Elaborate gameplay (the bit that people are really interested in, what does your character offer?)
    • Use more images (your first is great by the way)
    • Sell your build...