I don't have the game yet, but will soon. I'm planning on creating a Dunmer Dark/Death Knight and have been tooling around in the IGN skill builder figuring it out. So the skills i've decided to level/perk in are 2h, Heavy Armor, Conjuration (for raise dead), and Illusion (for Fear),Smithing, enchanting(HP drain for sword), and Alchemy(maybe) . So the questions i have, for those of you experienced in the game, are as follows.

1. How important are the Illusion/Conjuration perks for the fear/raise dead spells? Do they raise the effective level of the spell enough to be worth taking as a priority or simply wait until i've put the perks i need into other skills?

2. Are the alchemy healing potions significantly better than those i can buy if i invest perks?

3. Is this build viable, or will it be spread too thin to be effective? As much as i love this Character/Class type i'd rather not waste time making a character thats simply going to become frustrating to play later in the game.

1) You need perks for illusion or it simply fails, conjuration still works without if somewhat weaker/more expensive.

2) Alchemy healing potions are terrible compared to the loot/store ones, I think 100 health is the max from the ones you make, whereas, somewhat ridiculously, you can find ones that heal all health regardless of how much you have.

3) Everything is viable!
Edit: I would say 1H or 2 x 1H is better than 2H though for this build, as you can swap one hand to a spell more easily than 2H -> spell -> 2H
Possibly you may want to consider Vampirism as this gives you a health absorb spell too, which fits quite well imo.

Alchemy is a good thing to have, so you can buff your smithing, and enchanting. if your guna be using conjuration raise dead/summons, i recomend a one handed weapon(preferbly a mace). But two handed is fine, just takes bit more time. Mace is good for battle mage related characters due to its high dmg, and armor ignore perks.

Make sure to take soul syphon in the enchanting tree, just because it fits the class name.

Thanks for the responses everyone, very helpful. The cumbersomeness of switching between 2h and spells is something i had considered, but figured i'd get in game and see how it worked out before i started investing perks. If i find it too irritating to swap then i'll go 1h.


Edit: Here's my tentative build for anyone interested.

http://www.ign.com/builds/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim/create?d=000000000000000000101111110011010001011000111100000000000000000000000000000000000050001111110000111105111110000000000050111013

I have to say, if your going to build a Dark/Death Knight character you might want him/her to look the part. I would reccomend specializing in Heavy Armor so that you can wear Ebony Armor.

Shadowknights would use either a 2H and support spells or 1H and off-hand magic. Here is a Shadowknight build: http://www.ign.com/builds/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim?d=0000000000000000001000001100000100010110000000121210000000000000000000001010101103500011100100001111150001100000000000000000000501

I can make restore 230 hp potions.

*shrug*

Get your facts straight.

For my character I went:
Orc
Hammer
Heavy Armor
Conjuration
Restoration
Smithing
Enchanting

Alchemy is a lot of work. Personally I wouldn't bother with it. Fear means you have to chase people. I don't know if it will be that useful.

This character had problems at around level 15-20, but after that he became overly powerful. For Restoration, what I did was just grind it up to 40, and then get all the low level perks, and stick with the novice-level spell Healing. That is the only spell needed - dual cast, with all the bonuses. The best shout I have found is . In my opinion the priority perks are the basic weapon and armor ones.

Already done, check my OP and the build posted above you




Interesting build. Why alteration? i don't really see any Shadow/Dark/Death Knight style spells in there, so i'm guessing just for the spell resist and magika absorb perks?



The idea was to use it for crowd control to give myself space if i was taking too much damage and needed to heal, or even escape a bad situation. Admittedly i have no idea how much of a problem getting pounced on by large groups is for melee in this game so maybe it's not needed. It does however fit the character/class.

The enemies you tend to have trouble with as a knight are the ones that keep their distance. If they are in range of your weapon they tend to go down pretty fast. Getting fear to work on everyone takes quite a bit of Illusion skill + perks. However, if you want it in the build you should go for it. It will not cause any problems to add it. If it turns out you don't use it much, that will naturally limit the skill points + perks you put into it.

Alchemy, Enchanting and Smithing, if used in conjunction (properly) can result in some ridiculously overpowered items. Requires creation of potions to boost enchanting and smithing skills so you can, subsequently, improve your gear and enchants to a gamebreaking level.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQe0_Vbv6M
That's pretty much the only benefit I can think of with Alchemy though. Unless you'd rather not break the game. Then alchemy is probably largely useless, unless you really like creating millions of weak poisons or something.

Also, that's a pretty cool idea for a character build I have to say. I'll have to try something along those lines.
Been working on a Dunmer Buoyant Armiger build myself.

I'd change this up a bit.


I'd have:

2-H weapon for melee
Destruction: Frost Tree for Range and then switch to 2-H when out of Mana
Conjuration: Necromancy Tree
Illusion: Fear Spells (this is the one I would skip but up to you)
Heavy Armor
Enchanting (Middle Tree - for best equipment by endgame that supports playstyle)

I'd ditch Alchemy and you only need Smithing if you want to be uber-powerful as the build above can handle just about anything in game..... I know this b/c I'm playing a Death Knight at Level 48 and have had a blast.

J