over the last few days, i've been working on finetuning this build and thought i might post it, since i gained some insight about a few things and like to share, and also would like to hear opinions.

i only ever play dunmer, that's why it's in the topic title. this is by no means mandatory for the build, any race can work out i guess.

first off, i like stealthy characters. i beat the game only once so far (beat = complete all the main quests), with a good-guy-assassin-type character.

recently, i developed interest in the option to become a vampire and wanted to make a new character and play as one.

STEALTH

i didn't want to go the exact same assassin's route again, so i'll be using swords this time, with only moderate sneak attacks (backstab only, no assassin's blade perk or dagger use).

perks in the sneaking tree:

stealth 1

muffled movement 1

backstab 1

light foot 1

deadly aim 1

silent roll 1

silence 1

vampires also get a bonus to sneaking.

i tried the illusion spells and while i can see how they are useful, i kinda dropped them very fast since it doesn't fit my playstyle that much.

yet, since vampires get a bonus to illusion magic and also gain the vampire's seduction power, i'll be spending the following perks here:

novice illusion 1

hypnotic gaze 1

animage 1

kindred mage 1

quiet casting 1

note: all the level-increasing perks here work for vampire's seduction, i double-checked this myself. the power is also the only reason i got them, allowing me to use it on higher-level opponents to feed on. quiet casting is handy any time i want to silently use a spell as well.

CRAFTING

i'll be using vampire armor which is pretty weak and needs to be self-enchanted. therefore, i'll be using smithing and enchanting to make the best of it:

enchanter 5

insightful enchanter 1

corpus enchanter 1

extra effect 1

steel smithing 1

arcane blacksmith 1

elven smithing 1

advanced armors 1

note: arcane blacksmith isn't vital, since you can improve armor and weapons before enchanting, but this forces me to max out smithing skill before enchanting my stuff, i can't ever upgrade my enchanted stuff if it's not at the max beforehand. that's why i always use this perk.

WEAPONS

i had a lengthy look at all the weapons and there's really only two weapons i like, and this is the silver long sword and the blades sword.

since i already have the steel smithing required to upgrade the blades sword twice as much (and silver swords don't have a perk to do so, but at least can be upgraded with the unofficial patch), it will be my choice. dual-wielding two of them is quite aesthetically pleasing as well, i find. for ranged combat, i'll be using a bow. first an elven bow, later on auriel's bow. both benefit from the elven smithing perk which i'll get anyway for the advanced armors perk.

armsman 5

dual flurry 2

dual savagery 1

fighting stance 1

overdraw 5

a few things here - i wanted a really fast long sword fighter. dual flurry with two swords gets pretty fast already, but sword-dagger is yet a bit faster UNLESS you use the elemental fury shout. then your dual swords become ridiculously fast which is quite funny to look at. fighting stance is a very nice perk to reduce stamina consumption while using the flurry attack. also, i liked the dual dagger flurry animation a lot better than the dual sword flurry animation, so i went to the meshes folder and copied it over:

dw1hm1hm_specialattackpower.hkx replaced with dw_attackpowerknifeslashcombo.hkx

looks nice imo, especially with the katana blades sword.

bows are used vs dragons pre-dragonrend and as a stealthy ranged option or opener for difficult opponents we can't overpower with dual flurry. the bow perks all look very nice, but in terms of raw damage and how i'll be using the bow, aren't really necessary for the build.

DEFENSE

the physical damage reduction cap is 80%, requiring 567 points of armor rating with full armor (587 without helmet).

vampire armor has no helmet. nor do i like helmets actually, they all look pretty [censored]. basically any type of headgear, even circlets. so i won't use them.

agile defender 5

without further perks, no helmet slot and no shield, using basic vampire armor, we can't get very good defense. it'll be ok later on, with fortify smithing enchanted gear and highest purchasable smithing potion (25% x4 + 50% potion = 150% more), but the three pieces of vampire armor will cap at 428 defense (note: i dislike alchemy very much and won't use it for enchanting-alchemy-"loop"). as i said, good enough for later on

i very much like the alteration school, for the passive boni, the telekinesis, paralysis and detect life spells and also the armor spells:

novice alteration 1

apprentice alteration 1

adept alteration 1

magic resistance 3

expert alteration 1

atronach 1

with the highest armor spell ebonyflesh, we will get another temporary 100 points of defense. using the lord stone effect, we can yet gain another 50 points of defense, adding all up to 578 armor, which is pretty damn close to the damred cap, but requires both crafting skills at 100, using a specific standing stone and casting (and maintaining) a high magicka cost spell. also, opponents with the skullcrusher or bonebreaker perks will still get past our armor efficiently.

restoration school has some nice perks as well, mainly the mana regeneration perks and the avoid death perk:

novice restoration 1

recovery 2

avoid death 1

i won't be casting many spells, but especially in sunlight, recovery will be very handy to not be completely handycapped.

this is a total of 55 perks spent, required level for fully developped build is 56.

ENCHANTMENTS

i think absorb health and absorb stamina on the main hand katana and absorb health and soul trap on the offhand katana.

for flavor, i'll rename them to "Fang" and "Bite"

rest equipment was a bit harder.

i think i'll go for fortify onehanded and fortify archery enchantments on necklace, ring and gloves for 120% more damage in both combat skills.

for the chest piece, fortify alteration and fortifiy alteration + magicka regeneration, reducing alteration spell cost by 40% and increasing magicka regeneration by another 10%. this will allow me to cast ebonyflesh and also paralyse with baseline magicka (100 points) and not spend any levelup increases on magicka.

the boots will get fortify stamina regeneration and muffle enchantments. stamina regenerates poorly in sunlight, rendering the build especially weak since you can't use flurry without stamina. this will be remedied a bit. the muffle will help with sneaking.

FOLLOWER

why, serana ofcourse. equipped with vampire armor ofcourse. muffle the boots, then fortify magicka and magic resistance enchantments, magicka potions and a staff, so she can help with offensive magic.

or is there a "trick" to make her frequently use a nice katana as well?

all comments appreciated, have fun

Necromage. Get Necromage. Get it as soon as possible, but especially before you take any of the perks listed http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615804-/63140960.

If you are on PC, the Necromage perk may not work if you run the Unofficial Skyrim Patch, as I believe this "fixes" it!

hm...

i read about that, and consider it a glitch/bug.

uesp article on restoration also states, quote:

"A player with Vampirism and Necromage will receive greater benefits from self-targeting spell effects, as the player is flagged as undead. PC Only: This issue has been addressed by version 1.2.3 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch; Necromage no longer boosts the power of spells and enchantments used on a vampire player."

i had hoped this would resolve all of the necromagy vampiry cheese

well, ofcourse you can add the necromage into the mix if you like. i don't like

How is it a glitch? The perk applies to spells targeting the undead. Vampires are undead. The PC, if a vampire, is undead. Therefore, spells applied to the PC are affected by Necromage.

Perks, along with blessings and other such things, are considered to be spell effects. They probably should have been a separate thing, but that's not what the developers decided to do.

To not have the Necromage perk take affect on you when you are undead doesn't make sense, given the phrasing of the perk.

well, the perk is phrased as "all spells are more effective AGAINST undead", which for me doesn't entail beneficial magic used by undead spellcasters targetting themselves.

i agree with the unofficial patch project there (using the mod anyway).