THE SPELLSWORD
The idea behind this build is to create a character with all the strengths and abilities of a pure mage, with none of the weaknesses. This spellsword doesnt just hold a sword in one hand and a spell in the other all the time as the name suggests, but switches between spellsword and dual wielding spells depending on the situation. so without further ado.
Spellsword has always been my favourite style of play, with dual wielding spells mixed in. i recommend a breton, although altmer is certainly an option. this is likely the tankiest and strongest arcane character your ever likely to meet. Spellswords are known for full on offense and a lack of defense, but between healing spells and the occasional ward, the paralysis spell not to mention the perks from the alteration tree, illusion spells, heavy armor, conjured minions and high amount of health thats no longer an issue. at higher levels a few stealth skills are also learned.
Major skills
illusion - good for crowd control, by the time this character is finished everything from draugr to dragon priests will be affected.
restoration - healing is important for anyone, especially those who find themselves outnumbered in melee. wards can block shouts.
alteration - the perks in this tree bolsters this characters already considerable magic resistance, the paralyze spell is also nice.
One-handed - Turns into the main damage dealer lategame as enemies start to withstand even expert level destruction spells.
Heavy armor - Robes are suicidal in melee fights on master difficulty, and for those powerplaying to level 81, the enchants are almost as good as the archmages robes anyway.
Minor skills
Destruction - Compliments one handed damage and the only source of ranged damage, stunlocking dragons mid flight with impact is a powerful ability.
Conjuration - has both offensive and defensive uses, from the flame atronach right through to the goal of 2 dead thralls.
sneak - these perks combined with invisibility, muffle and quiet casting allows the option of a thief mage playstyle.
tertiary skills
alchemy, smithing and enchanting - the spellsword enrols in tertiary education in their old age and in doing so creates godlike gear.
Level 25, 50 and 81 build
Level 25
240 magica / 200 health / 100 stamina. mage stone.
6 perks in combat, none in stealth
Heavy armor - fists of steel, juggernaut x1, well fitted
one handed - armsman x2, fighting stance
18 perks in magic
illusion - novice illusion, apprentice illusion, illusion dual casting, hypnotic gaze, animage
conjuration - novice conjuration
destruction - novice destruction, destruction dual cast, impact, augmented flames, augmented schock
restoration - novice restoration, apprentice restoration, regeneration, recovery x1
alteration - novice alteration, apprentice alteration, magic resistance x1
this early in the game the spellsword will be using whatever heavy armor and one- handed sword they can find, starting from iron or preferably steel sword and armor found on bandit chiefs. the flame atronach and lydia will prove to be valuable companions at this point. i recommend doing the companions and civil war questlines first, then college of winterhold, then main questline due of the degree of difficulty.
if you are ready to start grinding all 3 crafting skills to create enchanted legendary daedric armor skip to the level 81 part of this build if not, keep reading.
Level 50
new perks are highlighted in red
300 magica / 340 health / 150 stamina. lord stone.
14 perks in combat
Heavy armor - conditioning, cushioned, fists of steel, juggernaut x1, well fitted, tower of strength
one handed - armsman x5, fighting stance, savage strike, critical charge
3 perks in stealth
sneak - stealth x1, muffled movement, backstab
32 perks in magic
illusion - novice illusion, apprentice illusion, adept illusion, illusion dual cast, animage,kindred mage, quiet casting, hypnotic gaze, aspect of terror, rage
conjuration - novice conjuration, necromancy, dark souls
destruction - novice destruction, augmented flames x2, augmented frost x2, augmented schock x2, destruction dual cast, impact
restoration - novice restoration, regeneration, respite, recovery x1, apprentice restoration,adept restoration
alteration - novice alteration, apprentice alteration, magic resistance x2
if you havent done the thieves guild and dark brotherhood questlines now is the time to do so. this build has a lot of its full power already, but destruction and conjuration spells are getting really expensive to use, to fix that alot of grinding is required...for those powerplayers among you read on.
Level 81
new perks are highlighted in red.
300 magica / 500 health / 300 stamina. atronach stone.
20 perks in combat
Heavy armor - conditioning, cushioned, fists of steel, juggernaut x1, well fitted, tower of strength
one handed - armsman x5, fighting stance, savage strike, critical charge
smithing - steel smithing, dwarven smithing, orcish smithing, ebony smithing, daedric smithing, arcane blacksmith.
10 perks in stealth
Sneak - stealth x1, muffled movement, backstab
alchemy - Alchemist x5, physician, benefactor
50 perks in magic
illusion - novice illusion, illusion dual cast, animage, kindred mage, hypnotic gaze, aspect of terror, rage, quiet casting, master of the mind, apprentice illusion, adept illusion, expert illusion
conjuration - novice conjuration, necromancy, dark souls, twin souls
destruction - novice destruction, augmented schock x2, augmented frost x2, augmented flames x2, destruction dual cast, impact
restoration - novice restoration, regeneration, respite, recovery x2, necromage, apprentice restoration, adept restoration, expert restoration
alteration - novice alteration, apprentice alteration, magic resistance x3, adept alteration, expert alteration, atronach
enchanting - enchanter x5, insightful, corpus, extra effect
you may notice spell absorption goes from 0% to 80% constant between levels 50 and 81, you may be thinking "wont this mess up my conjuring?" by this point the only conjuration spell used should be dead thrall, preferably on orchendor, malkoran or whoever you feel like. flame thralls could be used as a last resort if no bodies can be found, but 80% spell absorption and no magica refunds for failed flame thrall summons will have you pulling your hair out. keep in mind in order to use dead thrall with this build, 29% cost reduction and 100 skill in conjuration is required, along with 422 magica provided by the base stats, atronach stone and fortify magica gauntlets.
Spellsword has always been my favourite style of play, with dual wielding spells mixed in. i recommend a breton, although altmer is certainly an option. this is likely the tankiest and strongest arcane character your ever likely to meet. Spellswords are known for full on offense and a lack of defense, but between healing spells and the occasional ward, the paralysis spell not to mention the perks from the alteration tree, illusion spells, heavy armor, conjured minions and high amount of health thats no longer an issue. at higher levels a few stealth skills are also learned.
Major skills
illusion - good for crowd control, by the time this character is finished everything from draugr to dragon priests will be affected.
restoration - healing is important for anyone, especially those who find themselves outnumbered in melee. wards can block shouts.
alteration - the perks in this tree bolsters this characters already considerable magic resistance, the paralyze spell is also nice.
One-handed - Turns into the main damage dealer lategame as enemies start to withstand even expert level destruction spells.
Heavy armor - Robes are suicidal in melee fights on master difficulty, and for those powerplaying to level 81, the enchants are almost as good as the archmages robes anyway.
Minor skills
Destruction - Compliments one handed damage and the only source of ranged damage, stunlocking dragons mid flight with impact is a powerful ability.
Conjuration - has both offensive and defensive uses, from the flame atronach right through to the goal of 2 dead thralls.
sneak - these perks combined with invisibility, muffle and quiet casting allows the option of a thief mage playstyle.
tertiary skills
alchemy, smithing and enchanting - the spellsword enrols in tertiary education in their old age and in doing so creates godlike gear.
Level 25, 50 and 81 build
Level 25
240 magica / 200 health / 100 stamina. mage stone.
6 perks in combat, none in stealth
Heavy armor - fists of steel, juggernaut x1, well fitted
one handed - armsman x2, fighting stance
18 perks in magic
illusion - novice illusion, apprentice illusion, illusion dual casting, hypnotic gaze, animage
conjuration - novice conjuration
destruction - novice destruction, destruction dual cast, impact, augmented flames, augmented schock
restoration - novice restoration, apprentice restoration, regeneration, recovery x1
alteration - novice alteration, apprentice alteration, magic resistance x1
this early in the game the spellsword will be using whatever heavy armor and one- handed sword they can find, starting from iron or preferably steel sword and armor found on bandit chiefs. the flame atronach and lydia will prove to be valuable companions at this point. i recommend doing the companions and civil war questlines first, then college of winterhold, then main questline due of the degree of difficulty.
if you are ready to start grinding all 3 crafting skills to create enchanted legendary daedric armor skip to the level 81 part of this build if not, keep reading.
Level 50
new perks are highlighted in red
300 magica / 340 health / 150 stamina. lord stone.
14 perks in combat
Heavy armor - conditioning, cushioned, fists of steel, juggernaut x1, well fitted, tower of strength
one handed - armsman x5, fighting stance, savage strike, critical charge
3 perks in stealth
sneak - stealth x1, muffled movement, backstab
32 perks in magic
illusion - novice illusion, apprentice illusion, adept illusion, illusion dual cast, animage,kindred mage, quiet casting, hypnotic gaze, aspect of terror, rage
conjuration - novice conjuration, necromancy, dark souls
destruction - novice destruction, augmented flames x2, augmented frost x2, augmented schock x2, destruction dual cast, impact
restoration - novice restoration, regeneration, respite, recovery x1, apprentice restoration,adept restoration
alteration - novice alteration, apprentice alteration, magic resistance x2
if you havent done the thieves guild and dark brotherhood questlines now is the time to do so. this build has a lot of its full power already, but destruction and conjuration spells are getting really expensive to use, to fix that alot of grinding is required...for those powerplayers among you read on.
Level 81
new perks are highlighted in red.
300 magica / 500 health / 300 stamina. atronach stone.
20 perks in combat
Heavy armor - conditioning, cushioned, fists of steel, juggernaut x1, well fitted, tower of strength
one handed - armsman x5, fighting stance, savage strike, critical charge
smithing - steel smithing, dwarven smithing, orcish smithing, ebony smithing, daedric smithing, arcane blacksmith.
10 perks in stealth
Sneak - stealth x1, muffled movement, backstab
alchemy - Alchemist x5, physician, benefactor
50 perks in magic
illusion - novice illusion, illusion dual cast, animage, kindred mage, hypnotic gaze, aspect of terror, rage, quiet casting, master of the mind, apprentice illusion, adept illusion, expert illusion
conjuration - novice conjuration, necromancy, dark souls, twin souls
destruction - novice destruction, augmented schock x2, augmented frost x2, augmented flames x2, destruction dual cast, impact
restoration - novice restoration, regeneration, respite, recovery x2, necromage, apprentice restoration, adept restoration, expert restoration
alteration - novice alteration, apprentice alteration, magic resistance x3, adept alteration, expert alteration, atronach
enchanting - enchanter x5, insightful, corpus, extra effect
you may notice spell absorption goes from 0% to 80% constant between levels 50 and 81, you may be thinking "wont this mess up my conjuring?" by this point the only conjuration spell used should be dead thrall, preferably on orchendor, malkoran or whoever you feel like. flame thralls could be used as a last resort if no bodies can be found, but 80% spell absorption and no magica refunds for failed flame thrall summons will have you pulling your hair out. keep in mind in order to use dead thrall with this build, 29% cost reduction and 100 skill in conjuration is required, along with 422 magica provided by the base stats, atronach stone and fortify magica gauntlets.