The Tiger is essentially a heavy hitter . He’s an absolute tank when it comes to fighting and he knows it. He uses his heavy armour to soak up blows, with Restoration on the side to heal himself, while knocking enemies to pieces with his warhammer. The Tiger is basically the archetype of Berserker, with a side of magic thrown in to stir the pot, creating a Palidin-type build. The Tiger is quick to anger and hard to calm down, and will not stop till every living thing around them is dead. The Tiger smiths all their own gear and never take armour from the dead (wearing what a dead person wore? Yuck!). Despite his temper, he is an honourable warrior in combat. Seriously, wouldn’t you be scared if you saw a heavily armoured tiger threatening to smash your skull in?
((Disclaimer: This build is designed to be playable on vanilla Skyrim, however, it was tested on PC with many mods installed. If I have missed something, please let me know!))
Race: Khajiit with tiger-like appearance and as big as possible.
Stats: 1/2/2
Major Skills: Heavy Armour, Two Handed, Restoration
Minor Skills: Block, Smithing
Stone: Warrior, then Steed.
Shouts: Call of Valor, Dismay, Call Dragon, Unrelenting Force, Storm Call.
The Tiger uses mostly offensive shouts with the exception of Dismay. If you saw a tiger (a big, armour-clad, hammer-wielding tiger whose mother you just insulted, that is) running towards you, you would probably run like the wind! So that’s recreated with the Dismay shout.
Follower: Kharjo or one of the Companions.
Heavy Armour: The Tiger wears strong armour to soak up blows. He is at the spear point of every attack, smashing and bashing is way through to victory. His armour is usually crafted by his own two hands and due to his lack of enchanting skills, not often enchanted and if it is, weakly.
Two Hand: Primary combat skill. Warhammer good. Used for skull-crushing. Khajiit smash!
Restoration: The Tiger doesn’t often use alchemy and very rarely uses potions. Healing is always done by Restoration magic, either on the Tiger himself or on his allies. He will use his offhand weapon, a war axe while casting to defend himself, or no weapon at all if dual casting. And the Turn Undead Spells will be convenient for us at lower-levels. And Dragonborn brings in my favourite rune of all, the Poison Rune.
Block: Though he doesn’t use a shield, blocking is still a vital skill for him. Power-bashing is a great skill, especially against power-attacking spamming enemies like bandit chiefs, and the Disarm Perk is a sure fire way to turn the tide of a fight.
Smithing: All Tigers smith their own equipment. They learn how to use a hammer from the minute they are recruited and don’t stop forging until their armour can withstand the smash of a warhammer without shattering.
Nordic Carved Helmet*
Amulet of Mara
Nordic Carved Gauntlets
Silver-Blood Ring or Any other enchanted ring
Nordic Carved Armor
Nordic Carved Boots
Champion’s Cudgel OR Nordic Warhammer
Forsworn Bow with low quality arrows
Is it just me, or do Khajiits look more badass in Nordic Carved Armour then the Nords? With Dragonborn, we can access some really awesome weapons and armour. Unfortunately, Bethesda has made the unique warhammer Champion’s Cudgel untemperable but the team behind the Unofficial Skyrim Patches has fixed this issue with the Unofficial Dragonborn Patch. So since mods aren’t available for console players, I suggest the Nordic War Hammer to match your armour. Another weapon to have on hand would be the Dawnguard Rune Warhammer. The useful enchantment fits this character well.
*Wearing a circlet here as I prefer the look. if you go this way, some HA perks will not work.
One of the challenges of the Tiger was finding a gameplay style that mimicked their real-life behaviour. Tigers are typically solitary hunters who stalk their prey, but I decided to turn this Tiger into a true force to reckon with, a brute of a fighter, due to the fact that tigers are the largest big cat. Tigers are also the most common big cat to become man-eaters.
Taking down a foe might seem straight forward as a Tiger but there a large variety of techniques one can use. First of all, there is nothing wrong with charging in and basically hitting everything with your hammer. This is a good tactic against small groups of melee fighters, like bandits. Let the foes come to you and swing, hitting them before they can get to you. The warhammer is a slow weapon, but has incredible strength, even at low levels, and will take you no time to begin learning how to time your swing and blocks.
When against mages, stick to the outer fringes of where you are fighting and let them come to you. Stay behind cover and keep your healing spells on hand, to heal yourself in case you get hit. Eventually, they will run out of magicka and come for you, with either a dagger or a staff in hand. Break free from your perch and smash them down with a power attack.
Don’t be afraid to back away and try and heal. Seek shelter and let out your vicious roar (Dismay shout), and watch your opponent flee in terror at the sound of your snarl. Use this time to heal yourself and then chase after your prey or lay down a Poison Rune as a surprise.
Switching frequently from Restoration spells to your two hand weapon and back again might seem a bit clunky at first, but if you have never used the favourites system, here’s a good time to start. Also, speaking of spells, don’t worry about the wards. We got armour, we don’t need them. Focus on the healing side of things and, at lower levels, the Turn Undead spells. DLC owners get access to a lot more spells that do damage, such as Sun Fire from Dawnguard, and my favourite rune, the Poison Rune, from Dragonborn.
Tigers are infamous for consuming their fallen prey in honour of their battle. Though many see it as disgusting, the Tiger see it as ceremonial. They are also not followers of Namira and are repulsed at the thought of people eating dead bodies for fun. He eats fallen foes to replenish his strength and to bring honour to his people. Wearing the ring instead of your normal one is optional, but you should still get it as soon as you can.
Tiger’s Fury: Ah, this one thought it would be funny to incur the wrath of the tiger. Big mistake, no? Using a Circle spell is fun enough, but combine it with Stendarr’s Aura to make them take damage as they flee! Those left standing are easy enough to crush.
Any Repel Undead Circle spell + Stendarr’s Aura + Skull Crusher
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Roar of the Beast: Watch as those who try to hunt you flee in terror as you heal yourself and lay down a surprise for them when they return…
Dismay shout + Any healing spell + Poison Rune
- Don’t ever steal armour from the dead as that is seen as dishonourable. Use their weapons; yes, but never wear your enemies armour. And speaking of dead, undead are monstrosities that must be rooted out. When heading through a dungeon, send them all back to the grave. The Tiger also hates necromancers.
- Think of the Tiger as an add-on for the Companions. Advance until the end of the quest and cure your lycanthropy ASAP. Visit them regularly and do as many radiant quests as you can.
- Gaining the title of Thane is the way Jarls say thanks to the service one does for a hold. Do whatever it takes to get that title in the eight regions of Skyrim.
- Above all, never thieve or kill without reason. That is not the path of the Tiger and that will bring dishonour to yourself and your brother and sisters. Although, infiltrating the Thieves Guild might not be a bad idea…
- Don’t go out of your way to buy potions. Use what you find and rely solely of Restoration magic to survive.
- Any insult to a Khajiit is an insult to the Tiger. Result to insults with grand force. Bye bye, Nazeem! And help out your fellow Khajiit friends, whether it be questing for them or protecting them on the road. Following the caravan on the road is actually a lot of fun!
The Tiger is a helpful companion to all of Skyrim. He is firmly of the side of good and roots out all source of evil in Skyrim. He communes only with good daedra and is a hater of undead. He is more than happy to go into a dark and scary dungeon to root out necromancers.
He infamously wipes out the Dark Brotherhood and is known to the people of Solitude as the hero that stopped Pontema from returning to the mortal realm of Skyrim. He is a thane in all the holds, despite his political beliefs. Speaking of which, he joins the Imperial army to stop the Stormcloaks harassing him about freeing Skyrin.
The quests I recommend for this build are the following:
Main questline, Companions, The Forsworn Conspiracy, No One Escaped Cidhna Mine (Silver-Blood side), Book of Love, Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!, Amulet of the Moon, The Black Star, The Cursed Tribe, Civil War – Imperial Side (optional), College of Winterhold questline, Thieves Guild (optional), most dungeon quests, both Wolf Queen quests.
Thanks for reading my third build! I want to thank Bryn for being awesome and helping me out, as well as Nebula for reading it over, giving me ideas and helping out with a back story. And finally, Zimbu, for making awesome perk spreads.
Replies
Can't believe I lost this Build. Also you've hit Rank:Adept