» Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:49 am Key:
RED: Non-Critical
Orange: Important
Green: Extra Important. Read in detail.
(Sorry in advance if you're colorblind)
An Overview:
If you're anything like me, you were pretty bummed with Miraak's gear. His robes were seemingly garbage, just like everything else on him. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. His robes may very well be one of the best items in the entire game. A few months ago, I found a couple of posts on Reddit that made me change my tune.
- http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/192j1e/miraaks_robes_slight_dragonborn_spoiler/
- I couldn't find the original article again, but I did find the .gif used in it: http://imgur.com/KcbqJfH
I found out three things from these articles.
- The robes have no cooldown.
- The player himself can activate it using certain spells.
- They look freaking awesome with firestorm.
The Goal:
The goal is to activate Miraak's Robes in a rapid fire fashion, thus turning your character into a mix of tentacles, death, and animecentric jokes. A single tentacle explosion does little damage, but as the article states, they can activate several times in a second. The goal is to find an artificial way of achieving this.
Artificial Activation:
Spells that the player casts that indirectly affect the player will have a 100% chance to activate the robes. For example, Firestorm actually slightly damages the player, thus causing the robes to activate. Other massive AOE spells (like Blizzard or the Ritual power) will have a similar effect. Oddly, Guardian Circle does not do this.
Stacking:
An important part of weaponizing Miraak's Robes uses a technique I call "Stacking". For reasons I'm not entirely sure of, having the robes activate often enough within a short timeframe will seemingly make them go berserk, causing enough damage to fell Deathlords in mere seconds on Legendary, with intermittent explosions for minutes afterwards.
Master Spells:
The only set of spells that can reliably set the robes off are master spells. However, they aren't the best for activating the robe's effect. However, the robes allow for excellent synergy if you do happen to cast a master spell. In this section, I will describe in detail the more useful master spells to use in conjunction with the robes. Note that most master spells will activate Miraak's Robes 100% of the time.
Firestorm:
One fiery burst, one tentacle explosion. The robes simply supplement this spell with some extra damage.
Blizzard:
Initially showed very good promise, but suffers from a major drawback. For whatever reason, blizzard does not seem to activate when you cast it while under the effects of the "Become Ethereal" shout. However, it is a guaranteed way to make the robes activate around 3-4 times, allowing for some pretty good damage.
Mass Paralysis:
Mentioned only because this can be useful for setting up Blizzard. Either way, it'll cause a single explosion, similar to Firestorm.
STACK Mass Paralysis+Blizzard+Firestorm:
This extends off of my original test setup for practical use in combat. The paralysis is only there to buy time while you cast Blizzard and Firestorm. To do this, make sure you can cast Blizzard without interruption. Once blizzard activates, use firestorm. This can set off a series of explosions for several minutes, causing severe damage to enemies, even without the added damage of the master spells.
Note:
These are just the most effective master spells I have found. There are others that will work, as well.
Powers:
These are the other methods of activating the Robes. As far as I can tell, there are no run-of-the-mill spells that will activate the robes. However, the preferred method of activation is outlined in this section.
Transformations:
Upon transforming, a tentacle explosion will occur. NOTE: Only tested on Vampire Lords, not Werewolves.
Ritual Stone:
Upon activating the Ritual Stone power, a tentacle explosion will occur.
*PREFERRED* Bardic Knowledge:
This is the power I use, and what made me decide that my testing was finally done. Bardic Knowledge summons up a drum that helps with stamina restoration. It also costs zero magicka, and causes an explosion every time it is used. In initial field testing without enemies, this method was lackluster at best, but proved to be deadly in combat, due mostly to the absence of a cost and the number of times it can be activated within a relatively short timeframe. This will be explained in the section below.
Guide to Using Bardic Knowledge:
Bardic Knowledge is a power gained by a Black Book in the Dragonborn DLC. It is obtained from the book: "Untold Legends". This method relies heavily on being struck in combat. Because the robes activate when a spell or melee strike hits your character, you can use that opportunity to also activate Bardic Knowledge. This will cause an explosion and a chance of making a Stack.
This is the preferable method for several reasons:
- Can be used even while blocking with a shield.
- Requires absolutely no magicka.
- Has no animation, allowing you to cast it without disrupting the flow of combat.
Thus, even a warrior can use the robes effectively. The only downside is the loss of armor and enchantments gained from wearing a chestpiece.
As a proof of concept, I traveled to Forelhorst with the robes equipped and beat it on Legendary. I used only this method for attacking, and would use a healing spell intermittently. At its best, it killed a Draugr Deathlord in approximately 0.5 seconds. Again, on Legendary.
IMPORTANT NOTE 1: Stacking via this method can cause extreme lag and graphical glitches. It doesn't seem to cause any damage to your game or the Xbox's GPU, but be careful.
IMPORTANT NOTE 2: If your character refuses to stop exploding, unequip the robes. This won't stop him immediately, but should solve the issue within thirty seconds.
