Contest Build: The Hafgufa


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You were the scout of your crew, following the orders of the captain you worked on operations behind the scenes. From gathering Intel, stealing specific valuables to neutralizing key targets, every shadow job was for you. You were skilled with a blade, quick on your feet and you knew how to remain unseen. Having spent a lot of time in enemy camps, you heard about a sea creature. A corsair was talking to the others:
Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring, he shall rise and on the surface die.

-“The Kraken by Alfred Tennyson, 1830”

You never paid too much attention to it, saying to yourself: “after all, pirates are all tale-tellers...”

Hey everyone, this is my first build ever, I always wanted to play a pirate and this event seemed like the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. This is also my first time to play a beast race and using the sneak skill. I have used several mods for this build and they will be mentioned in their own section. Enough talking I present to you

 

THE HAFGUFA

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You grew up into a strong and capable warrior in Argonia, but you always wanted to see the outside world. Knowing that opportunities would not come to you due to the harshness of your province, you traveled to Morrowind. You quickly found a ship captain that turned you down stating that you would need to prove your skills to be part of his crew. A series of three duels against his best men and a challenge to snatch the first mate's hat without being noticed. The men were utterly defeated and the item recovered in a blink of an eye. The crew was speechless, the trials were a mere way to test the heart of the aspirants, nobody ever passed it, but you did.

It was the beginning of countless adventures. You plundered, fought, ate and drank with the crew, they were your family now.

Sailing on the sea of ghosts was never easy but that day was like no other. A rainstorm caught the ship and the whole crew was fighting nature's wrath. Lifting and dragging the sail, you noticed a shadow in the sea. In a split second the ship was shaking, the whole crew assumed combat formation. Something emerged from the water, the beast of the tale was right before you with gigantic tentacles climbing on the ship. You fought with your brothers in arms but nothing seemed to hurt the monster; swords, pistols, canons, and magic were all useless. As you watched the carnage, wounds all over your body you remembered the corsair saying that the beast's heart was its only weakness. You jumped into its belly, pressed on in this "black as pitch" place, soon you stumbled upon a mass that was beating. Only thinking about your companions you stabbed it countless times, the monstrosity ejected you and you woke up ashore covered in blood but your wounds were healed, the blood was not yours, you felt different as if something was living inside of you. The landwalkers are afraid of the water you call home and you are about to know why...

 

Lore

Scandinavian folklore identifies the Kraken as a legendary cephalopode-like sea monster of giant size. Most of the representations picture it as a giant squid but it can be an octopus or even a nautilus as the word Kraken is the definite form of Krake meaning a “hideous animal”. The real name of the sea monster is “Hafgufa” as stated in the earliest Norwegian books. My goal for this build was to show the influence of the sea creature on the character by using different elements of the game.

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Race: Argonian. The water has always been your home and you can use it to boost your metabolism.

Standing Stone: The Warrior. You are a capable warrior and your connection to the Hist aids you when in danger. The stone lets you deal more damage with power attacks and regenerate health and stamina at will once per day.

Factions: The Thieves’ Guild. You are a pirate in your soul, stealing is your lifestyle and killing is justifiable if it is for the loot.

Playstyle: Spellsword. The swordsmanship of the Hafgufa is coupled with the abilities granted by the Kraken’s Blood.

Weapon: Boarding Knife.

Armor and Apparel: Guild Master’s Armor, Hood, Boots, Nightingale Gloves and two rings of Fortify Destruction (50%). I wore an unenchanted version of the Guild Master’s Armor and the enchanting on the rings are done by NPC.

Spells:

Alteration: Ocato’s Recital, Flesh spells (according to your Alteration level), Paralyze

Destruction: Frost Rune, Geyser, Torrent and Tidal Wave.

Powers and Shouts: Unrelenting Force, Nightingale Strife, Become Ethereal, Elemental Fury, Star of the West, Storm Call and Mora’s Boon.

Enchantments: I did not add any other enchantments during my playthrough but here are my suggestions if you want to.

Fortify Health, Fortify Stamina and Fortify Sneak. From Summermyst mod you can use Amplify Destruction (stronger spells), Fortify Speed (move faster) and Shalidor’s Shield (take less damage while casting a spell).

 

Perks and Leveling

Stats:

2 Magicka/ 2 Health/ 1 Stamina

The Hafgufa’s offense relies on the combination of his swordsmanship and his magic abilities, we will need a decent magicka pool and enough health to survive a few hits as we cannot block. My final stats at level 50 were 400 Health/ 215 Magicka/ 225 Stamina. You can definitely go beyond that for endgame but I had every perk I wanted at that level. You should maintain Magicka at 215 as it is just enough to cast our master spell. The goal is to use the right spell at the right moment.

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Major Skills

One-Handed- The primary way of dealing damage, you will always have a spell in the other hand. Thundering Blow and Aftershock are the stars here, the former makes a power attack deal double damage after 8 regular attacks and the latter increases our attack speed by 75% for 3 seconds after a Thundering Blow. Those perks allow us to deliver some big damage very quickly.

Alteration- The damage synergy comes from this skill too. While we buff ourselves with Alter Self: Resistances and Attributes, casting a spell increases our weapon damage by 20% and decreases our foe’s armor by 150 with Spellblade and Energy Roil. Render Resistances decrease our target’s magic resistance when we do damage with our sword.

With all the skills previously mentioned our magic damage and weapon damage are constantly boosting each other.

Light Armor- The Guild Master’s Armor cannot be improved past flawless with zero investment in Smithing. We will not have a high armor rate, we need to dodge hits. Windrunner and Tempting Fate help us move faster but our best tool is Evasion Leap, all attacks miss you for 1 second when we jump and it has a 5 seconds cooldown! Coupled with Become Ethereal shout and TK dodge mod we can avoid a lot of damage.

Enchanting- It complements both magic and physical damage through Might and Magic. The icing on the cake is Spellscribe, it boosts our damage further by storing the spell we dual cast and releasing it through our power attacks for free, it has a very low cooldown when you get Enchanting at 100 and Power Echoes let us use it twice before going off.

Minor Skills

Destruction- We use it to boost our Water spells and the Frost rune.

Sneak- Like I said in the beginning it was my first time trying the sneak skill so I went with baby steps. Surprisingly it was very effective with only three skills perked. Sneak attack for the damage and Infiltrator for the stealth missions.

 

Gameplay

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Geyser should be your go-to spell as the area of effect makes it easy to hit people with. If the enemy is coming at you, use your spell and then your sword for higher damage. Spellscribe is used to store Torrent in your sword as soon as you can dual cast it. Melee opponents should be fought by alternating between main and offhand, you close the distance with Become Ethereal to murder ranged foes. If you cannot go to them you go back to using Geyser to deal with them. Those tactics are good for any “trash” mob. Higher level opponents deserve a special course, that’s where the Thundering Blow perk comes in. You are not allowed to power attack unless the skill is ready, meaning that you have to land at least 8 regular attacks and then go for the BIG DAMAGE . If you have to take on multiple opponents try taking out the most troublesome with your sneak attacks, never forget that you know how to work in the shadows.The Hafgufa is a careful warrior that waits for the right moment to deal the killing blow. Avoiding damage is done with the help of Evasion Leap, Become Etheral and roll dodge. Mages were quite troublesome because of their backpedaling AI, I was often unable to hit them enough to use my power attacks and that’s where Paralyze comes into play (more on that in the Special Moves section).

Roleplay-wise you start in the Thieves Guild, you steal anything valuable to increase your wealth, the guild will never replace your crew but you share the same appetite for goods and valuables. You will take every burglary, sweep, heist and bedlam offered to you. After meeting Enthir during the quest “Hard Answers” you join the College of Winterhold and train under Faralda to understand how to control your new powers. After reaching 100 in Destruction your training is done. Remember those two rings of Fortify Destruction? You can now equip them, you will now be able to cast the master water spell with the 50% reduction cost.

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Special Moves

With the Kraken’s blood, you can now control water and blood to a certain extent (blood has very high water content)

 

3138514947?profile=RESIZE_180x180Vicious Blow: Cross Cut + Thundering Blow

A boosted Thundering Blow, few foes can withstand the power of this precise strike.

 

 

 

3138517709?profile=RESIZE_180x180Thousand Cuts: Elemental Fury + Thundering Blow + Aftershock + 2nd Thundering Blow

By increasing your own blood flow you swing your weapon at incredible speed dealing two mortal blows.

 

 

 

3138520026?profile=RESIZE_180x180Last Word: Nightingale Strife + Paralyze

By suddenly decreasing the blood flow of your enemies, they slowly faint, powerless and at your mercy (was used intensively on powerful mages like Hamelyn)

 

 

 

3138522582?profile=RESIZE_180x180Frostbite: 3x Dual Casted Frost Runes + Ancient Seals

The only spell you were able to learn under Faralda after learning that you had an affinity for Ice magic.

 

 

 

3138525488?profile=RESIZE_180x180Torrent: Unrelenting Force + Geyser multiple times

A rush of water crushes your foes.

 

 

 

3138528523?profile=RESIZE_180x180Ravage: Storm Call + Unrelenting Force + Tidal Wave

The full extent of your abyssal abilities.

 

 

 

3138531544?profile=RESIZE_180x180Hist Call: Histborn + Star of the West OR Mora’s Boon (You can use them alone too)

You call upon your connection to your homeland, rapidly regenerating yourself.

 

 

 

QUESTS

Many quests were completed during my playthrough, I will list the most important in my opinion. Do not forget that you are motivated by the coin and the valuables, you are not a Good Samaritan. You will help every Argonians though.

  •   Thieves Guild Questline: You like valuables, they help you get some. What’s more to say?
  •   Dragonborn Questline up to Diplomatic Immunity: you will infiltrate the Thalmor Embassy and free Etienne Rarnis.
  •   Rise in the East: The Blood Horkers must be eliminated as they prove to be a threat for the Guild’s influence.
  •   Lights Out: You smelled profit...
  •   Larceny Targets and Trophies: The vault must be filled again and you will personally take care of it.
  •   No stone Unturned: A potential reward is always worth the effort.

 

 

MODS

 

 

Conclusion

First build done! I want to thank Curse, BlackBlood, Furion and Kendrix for their help on the forge and the discord. Also a big thank you to all the people supporting this community.

Let me know what you think, I look forward to the comments as I want to become better at making builds. Thank you guys and set sail pirates of Tamriel!

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Replies

    • Thanks, Kendrix. You really inspired me both for the presentation and the playstyle. I'm happy that my first build is doing okay!

  • Hey nystee, good yo see you got your build up!!

    I'll start by saying you have chosen a really interesting topic to base your build upon. I do so love myths, folktales and legends; and the Kraken is great one. Excellent idea working Tennyson's work into your introduction it made it flow beautifully.

    Jumping into where you detail Race, Standing Stones, playstyle etc. I would Suggest perhaps moving your mods list above here or at least the essential mods (Apocalyspe, Ordinator. Andromeda etc). Most of us are familiar with these spells, powers, perks and active effects now but it does help the reader to quickly grasp that the build is a moded one and they won't be left scratching thier head if they are only familiar with the vanilla game.

    Under Perks and leveling you've outlined everything very well and provided us with info on key perks which is great. I assume you had a perk Spread up? There seems to be a missing picture in this section (Several other pictures are missing through out. I've also had this happen to me before on some of my builds, so understand how much of a pain it can be). Without a perkspread it will be tricky to see just what perks you chose. If you need help getting those pictures up let one of us know and we can help you fix em :) I really like the Kraken symbol you've used to break up each section too, helps keep that theme running consistent.

    Your gameplay, Quests and Special moves are all well explained, and thought out. 

    So I don't really have much more to say mate. You've got a very, very solid first build here, and I can see you have great deal of time and effort into crafting your character. All the best for the contest and I look forward to seeing any future builds you post!!

    • Thanks Furrion, your feedback means a lot. I'll definitely improve the format on my next builds.

      Indeed, it seems that some of my pictures are missing I will reupload them as soon as possible.

      • I hate it when I’m missing a portion of the build or a photo doesn’t load. Hope you get it sorted out.

        • Its all fixed up. 

  • Hey nystee!

    Great build (I know I said it but anyway), you've hit Expert! So drop that Rank:Novice tag and change it to Rank:Expert

    • Just did

  • At last, Father Akatosh gave me the time to properly read this. I appreciate how much passion and dedication went into this build. As someone who doesn't read many build posts I found this rather invigorating because you made a backstory that felt original and purposeful but also the meticulous order of it with the powers, abilities, and roleplaying aspects is something my OCD brain can appreciate. The backstory feeding directly into gameplay and roleplaying is also expertly included. (It's nice that this character is morally cutthroat but not evil as opposed to being a goody two shoes; something I also found refreshing.)

    The beginning paragraph by Alfred 'Tennyson' (nice lol) was quite esoteric a lot like Powersocke Prime's writing.

    I really like how you utilised mythological aspects into this build as well with the name, in the backstory when he fought the Kraken, and the powers. I plan to read your other builds but please alert me when you post more. I'd be curious to see what other creative spin you can place on a Skyrim build. Additionally if you write any stories that would also be interesting especially if you ultilized characters like the Hafugufa. The pictures and page breaks interspersed throughout the text were well placed too.

    The Water Spells are also just such a needed change from the usual abrasive magic in Vanilla Skyrim. Reading this I felt at times a sense of kiddish enthusiasm almost emanating from the words -- like you really enjoyed making this build. Which made me want to read more, because it felt like genuine care went into making this character. I guess my advice for the future would be too include more personable elements as well when it comes to the Hafugufa's individual personality.

    Keep up the good work and artistic expression. This was a great and original Skyrim build! Have a good week, hopefully I can read the Arrow of Talos before Saturday.

    PS. I guess my comment mostly consists of appreciating this guy from a character standpoint, as a writer it gives me that outlook but the build itself is great too. But it's the character of the Hafgufa you made I found most enthralling. Such a creative idea! He's make a dynamic book character that's for sure =)

    • Thank you for the kind words, to be honest with you I have been thinking about giving this build a revamp. You are right about the fact that I was really thrilled while making this build it was my first one. I can see the rough parts of it and it would be nice, to make it better by removing the "fluff" (some of those mods were just unnecessary). I really like to tie the backstory with the gameplay and skills and all, I got it from more experienced builders here on the forum. Also, don't refrain from voicing any negative feedback you might have for any of my builds. I definitely don't expect all the criticism to be positive and I think that's how you grow anyway.

      I hope you will have time to read more builds (not just mine), you might find some good inspiration because there are a lot of lore-friendly builds with great backstories if you check the Archives, I always go back there to find inspiration.

      Feel free to join the Discord, it makes communication way easier, have a good one!

      • Revamps sometimes are necessary, I understand, especially if a work is public. I didn't notice any glaring issues though and an Argonian doing water magic felt so right.

        Tying the story and personality of the character into their playing style makes it all the more realistic too. An angry character is more likely to go in fists blazing whereas an observant, quiet person is more suited to the shadows.

        I agree, criticism is how we grow. I just like to go easy seeing as this my first time reading your writing and it's your first build as well. Admittedly, when something is well crafted, I can get carried away with only noticing the good but I'll try to offer more advice on the Arrow of Talos.

        Yeah I will eventually have to get back to Prime's stuff and see what other builds are here for inspiration as well. As for discord, I avoid it cuz it's simply way too distracting and time consuming for me, but if you need to get ahold of me, I can give you my email or my fandom or FanFiction usernames.

        Take care bro.

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