Awesome build Shinjin! The Ebony Blade truly is a beastly weapon, I was using something similar (though not going to post) and it really balances out power with only using robes. Seems great minds think alike, eh? And a massive +1 too!

You know I wrestled with the idea for a while, but because of the squishiness of an unarmored build I wanted to bring my health up--I was afraid power bashing would eat up too much stamina, and I was unwilling to up my stamina at the cost of magica or health. I'm at level 52 now, and wondering what to do with the perks I get... I might give it a try :)

Thanks for your kind words! I absolutely agree about the robes. Even my light armor builds start to feel tanky by late game, but with robes the incentive is there to get your hits in, move out of harms way and search for your next opening--too much fun :) I had a similar 'great minds' experience with Lozhar's "Lonely Warrior" build--the night I asked for help critiquing mine, there it was. It was just different enough to justify posting mine, so I put this off a bit to give his some time. I'd be interested to see what you've done for your build :)

+1

Out of the bloodworks.

Now,where did you find those pictures? they are are amazing! 

Nice set up you have here... I like the backstory and the fact that you're utilizing a 2 hander in conjunction with the perk that slows time... Very samurai like. The shouting, I can live with... Take it as an expression of ki The gear though... Not so much. Aside from the ebony blade, the circlet and robes feel rather ... Magey. Here's what I would suggest (though you might be gimping yourself for looks): Cultist robes - the robes as a pleated look of the samurai. It has a 75% magics regen enchant by default which allows you to regen mama in battle. At most, you gonna need what, an atronaxh and a flesh spell? This should suffice, in conjunction with the recovery perk. Adept hood - Providing similar enchant to the circlet, this will add to the look of a hooded wanderer. Stylish and meshes well with your overall look. Necromancer's amulet - to make up for lost enchant of robes, get this amulet. Aside from fighting the evil terror of the butcher of windhelm (pun intended), the enchants on this amulet are awesome. Health regen should not be a worry though, given that life back from the ebony blade should counter this. The added stamina is a bonus. Shoes (optional): stick to your shrouded shoes if it helps. However, if sneaking ain't that important, then I would suggest going for cultist boots. No useful enchants per se, but they look good. Other than the above, the storyline and concept deserves a +1. The mechanics are simple and that is perhaps what contributed to the non breaking immersion.

Much obliged to my #20 savior :D

I spent a few days pouring over Google Images and Deviantart. The vast majority of the art came from Deviantart though--there is some great work coming out of there. The hard part was finding stuff that wasn't dual wield. If you like, I can email you some of the stuff I couldn't use... Your Lonely Warrior dual wields correct? *edit* I saw the two swords listed and assumed dual wield (which was incorrect). The single wield without shield makes me like it even more. Speaking of which...

I finally allowed myself to take a good look at your LW this morning (I was afraid to look too closely before that for fear of cannibalizing parts of your build and putting them into mine)... good stuff! Did you initially use the Ebony Blade? For some reason I thought you had.

Those are very good points... she looks hardly Samurai-ish at all. I started with the idea of going for a real samurai feel, but practicality initially led me down a different path. Eventually I took a good look and, like you, I thought "Crud--She looks like a mage!"

I was about to do some clothes shopping (because I really don't mind gimping myself) when it dawned on me... she kind of is a mage now. For role play reasons I stuck with it... it seemed a natural progression based on the course she has taken.

Had I seen the cultist robes beforehand, however, I would have gone that direction... they're pretty cool (sadly, I'm running vanilla skyrim so I don't have access to them). Point well taken, though. I may yet do some shopping around to find a fit that's more in keeping with a ronin feel.

Wanting to make my own Ronin, this is a really good build! And seeing an unarmed build is always cool. The layout is really great as well. Just overall really good ShinJin +1 lol.

Thanks so much! I'd love to take all the credit for myself, but your partner-in-crime for the Order of Judgement had a lot to do with the way this build's layout turned out ;D

I finally had the time to give this a full read and I've really enjoyed it. It's probably my favorite samurai build on the site and I feel like there are so many :p Definitely +1 for depth and the fact that I can tell you've played this extensively! Although, I don't think the Ebony Blade has the reach of a greatsword. I was playing with it today and Mudcrabs had better reach than me!