Hi all,

I've finally decided to play the Dawnguard DLC but I don't know what type of build to use. All suggestions are welcome though keep in mind I like to keep crafting restricted to one skill (ok, maybe too) and I limit perk points to three (ok, maybe four) skills. This is on Master difficulty on the Xbox so no mods. I try to play 'naturally' so please don't include grinding.

Gratzi!

Well for the basics, I find archers and warriors (maybe a battlemage) will be at home with the Dawnguard. Where your Mage based builds can be with the Volkihar.

Vampire Hunter-
Archery (Crossbow obviously)
1 Handed or 2 Handed (Dawnguard war axe or Dawnguard warhammer)
Light and/or Heavy (Dawnguard armour. Light helmet looks crap, Heavy helmet looks like a crusader type helmet)
Sneak (Give the crossbow a little more powaa)
Restoration (Good for fighting undead and healing... obviously)
Smithing and Alchemy (extra damage and defence + cure disease potions)


Edit: Daedric Dovah might know a good Volkihar vampire build.

Edit 2: Crossbow spoiler

I'll try the Dawnguard side first.

Oh yes. The light DG helmet is ugly.

Thanks for Edit 2 - It fits my style nicely.

So it looks like I'll go with heavy armor, two-handed, archery, and smithing. I really like alteration (detection and skin spells, magic resistance and paralysis) so I'll throw that in as well. Restoration will probably take a back seat to alteration in terms of perk priority. But no alchemy or enchanting otherwise there's the risk of becoming OP.

How would you distribute increases in magicka/health/stamina attributes? I'm thinking 1:1:2 with a cap of 200-250/200-250/400-500.

Edit: Race looks like orc (love that Berserker Rage).

Any build will work for either side.

I leave Health at 100
I also leave Stamina at 100 but some characters get an extra 100
The rest goes into Magicka (even for non mages)

So I can't really help with M/H/S points

Maybe a Spellsword, and burn those Vampires with your fire cloak as you chop them to pieces.

1H (type of your choice).

Light or heavy armor (your choice).

Destruction.

Restoration.

Alteration.

Smithing, just upto Arcane smithing.

Concentrate on leveling Health & Mana. Stamina can be left as is, as you can use respite.

Typical battle scenario would go: cast mage armor protection spell on yourself, then a flame cloak, then attack with your 1H weapon & use restoration in the off hand to heal & replenish stamina with respite.

Sounds pretty good to me, maybe a fire enchantment on the sword to really make sure those blood svckers stay down!

I tend to lean towards the Volkihar when i do the DG questline. Most of my characters are archer based. One of my favorites was the Blood Archer, which is basically an archer with a max out archery tree with the added conjuration and ritual stone. Also i always bring a death hound with me.

My current character started out on the DG side and focused on archery and one handed. But later ended up turning into a vampire and focused on conjuration in addition to her archery skills.

I think conjuration goes hand in hand with playing as a Volkihar. It just really adds to it. Illusion is also a huge plus.

Id suggest visiting the Skyrim Blog and look up the character builds there. Theres some unbelievable builds and roleplay ideas that will keep you interested in this great game forever.

But really any build that youve already played as will work on either side.

Just let your current character get svcked into it, and play by ear. Anything works.