Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Dawnguard

Tags: #Race:Nord  #Character Build Juggernaut  #Character Build Warrior  #dawnguard 
  • Member
    June 14, 2013

    Thank you.

  • Member
    June 14, 2013

    It seems like builds like this (smithing, all heavy armor, all 1 handed, plus enchanting) is all about playing on master difficulty and focusing on damage.  What good is having 700 armor? (what you'll end up getting with a tonne of perks in heavy armor and heavy use of smithing.)  What purpose is served by 1 shotting most creatures? (tonne of perks in 1 handed and again, heavy use of smithing).

    Despite your RP intro, your build is pure damage, so much so that you max him out at level 56 instead of the standard 51, just to get some more damage perks.  Why isn't our dawnguard good at picking locks?  Or talking with folks?  Why doesn't he buy his weapons instead of make them? (just an example)  What is the purpose of maxing out werewolf, if you're maxing out 1 handed?  Where's the time to level one or the other?

    This build could be any "make the most powerful fighter to be used on master difficulty only."

  • Member
    June 14, 2013

    Don't be defensive, you want feed back, here it is.

    You can wear heavy armor and not put perks into it...especially if you are going to focus on enchanting (no need for arcane blacksmith) and smithing, because smithing will get your heavy armor to the armor cap...so what good are the perk points in heavy armor?  Or drop smithing.  To have both is to be redundant.  My level 40 fighter is wearing wolf armor and has over 500 armor rating with no points in it and he hasn't even used smithing potions.

    werewolf and 1 handed are also redundant.  That's two forms of close combat melee.  With smithing and enchanting you can have a backup 1 handed weapon that does a lot of damage with zero perks in 1 handed.  Extra effects will get you fire+frost damage on one weapon which nothing in 1-handed helps with, in fact power attacking is less effective since you want to land more blows.  You're better off putting a few points into destruction for the +25% skill, which should be easy to train as they only require 30 points.

    so stick with werewolf and drop 1 handed and heavy armor (of course use a 1 handed weapon and heavy armor, but there is zero need for perk points spent in them.)

    Right now you have 5 ways of dealing damage and you've maxxed them all out.  Werewolf, 1 handed, smithing, enchanting, archery.

  • Member
    June 14, 2013

    Thanks for the defense. Glad to see that someone who found things they didn't like much about the build also found a way to tweak it a bit to make it more enjoyable for them. This was the first build I made and granted it can still use some work, but I'm pretty satisfied with it. I actually didn't know that 51 was the "standard" end level, I didn't pay that close attention to the level caps, but I did try to make this build in a way that playing on harder difficulties would present somewhat of a challenge. A friend of mine tried playing this on master and had a bit of a hard time doing it, but I'm not sure if it's the build, his play skill, or some other factor that affected it, but either way, thanks for the constructive criticism of the build and for the defense of the build. 

  • Member
    June 14, 2013

    smithing raises the physical damage on weapons, high enchanting raises magical damage on weapons.  Then on top of that he raises the physical damage some more with 1 handed.  But 1 handed perks don't have good synergy with enchanted weapons because power attacks slow you down and enchanted weapons are more effective with normal attacks.

    You can reach the armor cap with either smithing, or with armor perks.  Doing both is a waste.  On top of that he's using a shield and putting lots of points into health...

    Arcane blacksmith is not helpful for an enchanter who's making his own equipment and he's didn't put perk points into advanced armors, which is what specifically benefits dawnguard armor.

    He could model his dawnguard more after the pilgrim class from oblivion (who's armor is the model for dawnguard), he could level speech and buy soul gems instead of wasting an enchantment on all of his weapons (why do all of his weapons need soul stealer?).  Then he could throw points into locksmith to get better loot out of dungeon chests in order to pay for it.  Because he's going to have to level speech anyway because of all the smithing and enchanting he's going to be doing...

    so inefficient.  Or he could drop enchanting and smithing and just put points into 1 handed and heavy armor, since his only use for the extra effects perk is to put soul stealer on it in order to recharge his enchanted weapons...that really only have 1 enchant on them.

  • Member
    June 14, 2013

    Akatosh...you can level a skill and you aren't forced to put perks into it.  having 1-handed at 100 doesn't mean you have to throw a bunch of perks into it.  You can take the perks that you earned from leveling 1 handed and put them into smithing and enchanting...

  • Member
    June 14, 2013

    I changed up the build a bit, what was changed is mentioned at the bottom of the build in the "P.S" section.

  • Member
    June 15, 2013

    you cant enchant the dawnguard helmets because they have vamperic resistance enchantment already on them.

  • Member
    June 15, 2013

    I would recommend (if you're on PC) a One-handed crossbow mod. Then you can hack and slash while shooting and get the awesome look in the picture.

  • Member
    June 15, 2013

    I'm not on a PC, but if I was, that would definitely be a mod I would look into.