Hi

I don't get tired of taking on the ebony warrior, who I find hardest to beat.

I admit that I did my entire build this time around defeating him, even if it made other parts of the game harder or more tedious...I wanted to beat him on legendary difficulty without anything that could not be gained from the vanilla game. This was something I'd never managed.

Here's Salakha'jay's approach. He's a Khajit, so sneaking and the thieves' guild were right up his street. He maxed out on alchemy, enchanting, heavy armour, pickpocket, archery, sneak and one-handed although he did not take all of the perks in most of them...just enough to get what he wanted. He took 'Dragonborn Force', 'Force Without Effort' and 'Seeker Of Might' from the black books.

He made a suit of Falmer Heavy armour to exceed the armour cap and enchanted it with Fortify Block, Fortify Archery, Fortify One-Handed, Resist Frost and two lots of Resist Magic. He added his remaining enchantments in the form of Regenerate health and Fortify Health. Auriel's bow was doing 380 damage plus the effect of his sunhallowed arrows. His shield was spellbreaker and his dragonbone mace (401 damage) was enchanted with absorb health and fire damage. With his enchantments he entered the fray at 772 health, 300 stamina and 100 magika...the latter two were going to be of little use to him anyway.

Out and out might was not how he believed he could win, though.

When he met the satin black clad warrior in Windhelm, he nodded and smiled and waited for his adversary to turn his back. Then he donned his thieves outfit, downed a strong potion of fortify pickpocket and relieved the Redguard of his bow, his ring and his gauntlets...well, he's master of the thieves' guild: what did you expect?

Arriving at the last vigil, his stealthy tactics continued. He crept around the man using 'Shadowcloak Of Nocturnal' for effect, rather than out of necessity. He made his way to the top of the slope above where his adversary stood, crouched down and launched a fusillade of arrows. Despite the warrior's seemingly impossible evasive manoeuvres, he managed to get in a solid four or five hits, lowering his opponent's health by a third...not enough for the warrior to use close wounds. He then hit him with unrelenting force and charged after his opponent waving his mace around in the air.

All did not go entirely smoothly. His sturdy foe recovered his feet before Salakha'jay could do any serious damage and struck back with his own dragon shout. The warrior was on him quickly...too quickly. Some nagging sense of honour had made Sala hold back from taking the ebony sword of the vampite and the shield back in windhelm. He regretted this decision as blows rained down on him and he was forced to take a potion of ultimate healing before being blasted downhill again, dangerously close to the cliff's edge . The ridge above came to his rescue. He was out of sight of the enemy for long enough to recover, swig another potion and strike with Dragonborn Force as the ebony clad opponent crested the brow. This time he closed the gap quickly enough and swung his mace for all he was worth, only withholding using power attacks, wary of the Reflect Blows skill of his rival. He took several blows himself and blocked yet more, but this time he got a flurry of swings in at the right moment, preventing his enemy from healing.

"Sovngard at last," sighed the vanquished hero with his dying breath.

Salakha'jay could scarce believe it. He had won. Would he have prevailed without his nefarious tactics? Who knows. He didn't care. All is fair in love and war...and the b***er picked a fight with Sala in the first place!