During a boring nightshift I stumbled across an article about Uriel Septim VII. Here’s what gave birth to this build: “Uriel found himself subjugated in his relationship and came to regret his mistake of marriage. He was repelled by her, (Lady Caula Voria) and thus he fathered at least two illegitimate sons, Calaxes and Martin.” I believe that bad boy Uriel has also fathered at least one illegitimate daughter, Julia Septim. She slipped the attention of Mythic dawn, deemed unimportant. Later Julia married, changing her surname to Sestius and was only mentioned in dusty records of Blades archives. Thus, the Septim dynasty lived on, continued matrilineally.
4E 174 From the ashes of White-Gold Tower
Maximus climbed the city walls to watch the unending waves of Aldmeri Army closing in on Imperial City from all sides. Utter despair gripped a 14-year old fresh recruit of the legion, but he had no more tears left to spare. Just a year earlier he waved proudly farewell to his father and older brothers leaving to the frontlines, only to receive a message of their cohort’s destruction. Penitus Oculatus always paid special interest to his family, but Maximus didn’t know why. As Emperor Titus Mede was preparing a daring escape from the Surrounded City with many prominent families, the 8th legion recruited every youth old enough to hold a weapon for the doomed defense of their capital. Maximus prepared himself to follow the Emperor in a break out, when a young Penitus Oculatus agent named Maro handed Maximus a letter with an Emperors seal that specifically ordered Maximus to join the 8th legion in their defense of the Imperial city. Surely his family have bled enough for the empire?! Clutching his amulet of Talos, his family’s patron deity, Maximus knew that disobeying a direct order from the Emperor wasn’t an option.
The resistance of the 8th legion didn’t last long; not surprising as half of the recruits didn’t know one end of a sword from another. Maximus, hailing from a family with generations of military service faired better than most. They made a valiant stand, but none of that mattered, as more than half of the legion was butchered in days; they were the lucky ones. Maximus remembers their young officer Salvianus, covered in elven blood and gore being captured, before something hit Maximus on the head and all went blank. He woke a weak later in a stinking hole to screams of Silvanus’s torture. The city burned for weeks and all manner of atrocities were carried out by the vengeful elves on the innocent populace of the city. Many of Maximuses comrades succumbed to diseases and starvation in the dungeons in the following months. In a rare moment of sanity, officer Salvianus told Maximus, that he received a specific instruction from the commander of Penitus Oculatus himself, that no matter the outcome of the battle, Maximum was supposed to die in the defense of the city. It didn’t make sense, but it filled Maximus with desire to survive and find out why. Soon Lord Nerafim decided to arrange blood sports for the entertainment of bored Aldmeri officer rank and Maximus had to learn quickly how to kill by any means necessary. Months went by as reality and nightmare intertwined; beasts and fellow soldiers fell in the arena to his blade and spell while ever bloodthirsty Aldmeri soldiers cheered his name.
The battle of Red Ring raged for days and in the ensuing chaos Maximus, Salvianus and a few others managed to escaped the dungeons. It was hard to believe that the nightmare was over, but Maximus was determined to find out why Penitus Oculatus and perhaps even the Emperor Titus Mede wanted him dead. His appearance was unrecognizable and his face was scarred by now. Maximus would change his name and rise through the ranks of the Legion to find out the truth, but for now he would disappear. After finding out about the shameful White Gold Concord, Maximus decides to join the volunteers and go fight the Thalmor in Hammerfell.
4E 201 Destiny Unfolding
Veteran of dozens of battles in Illiac Bay, Maximus travels to Skyrim to join the legions under a new name, hoping it would be far enough from imperial court not to be recognized. Ironically, he is caught up in an imperial ambush near the border, and after an eager imperial officer sees an amulet of Talos on Maximus’s neck, it quickly becomes apparent that no amount of explanation is going to get him out of this mess.
The story will continue in the Quests & Factions section.
Race: Imperial. It’s the only Race that makes sense from RP perspective, you get bonuses in many starting skills, racial passive Imperial luck is very welcome on a no-crafting character and an active skill Voice of the Emperor fits RP perfectly and can save you from a tight spot.
Stats at max lvl 61: 500 Health, 250 Magicka, 150 Stamina.
With end-game Equipment: 500 Health, 400 Magicka, 210 Stamina.
Shouts: Elemental Fury and Become Ethereal. All others are optional or situational.
Standing Stones: Warrior/Mage at the start, Atronach for late game. Most of our spells are cast at the beginning of a battle and 50% magic absorption combined with 30% from Alteration Atronach perk makes us nearly immune to magic.
Worship: Talos and Boethiah. Maximus worships (shrine blessing) only Talos and wears his amulet always giving him 40% reduced shout cooldown. He does not “worship” Boethiah, their interests simply align. More on that in Quests section. This build is purely vanilla, but I used Wintersun mod in my latest play through and would highly recommend it to gain Boethiahs blessings.
Crafting: This build is essentially no crafting, but I did enchant 3 items and crafted 1 crossbow, refunding the perks afterwards.
Skills
lvl 32 perks
One-handed: Our main offensive skill in which we invest heavily, taking all perks, except for Axe and mace weapon skills. For most of the game I used unenchanted swords and enhance them with 3 words of Elemental Fury. Enhanced with elemental fury, sword will raise one-handed skill naturally and very fast. This is the first build where I actually bothered to invest in swordsman perks and it pays off. Crits also give extra exp. Combined with Dragonslayer blessing, dragons are in for some serious crits. In off-hand we hold either shield or a dagger. The speed of dual-wielding power attacks is determined by the weight of the off-hand weapon, which is dagger. Use sword-dagger combo to either dispatch flimsy enemies, in combination with paralysis rune or when, on a rare occasion you have someone else tanking for you.
Block: Essential skill for any self-respecting legionary. Take only 1 rank in Shield Wall, Quick Reflexes and all skills on the left side. Power bashing doesn’t do enough damage on higher difficulties. Also, we simply don’t have enough perk-points and have to make tough choices. I found sword and board gameplay extremely satisfying with Elemental Fury. You’ll be able to make three cuts to enemies one and will fill utterly in command. In late game shield charge perk gives amazing battlefield control and needs no explanation.
Heavy Armor: Maximus wears heavy armor as a second skin. We invest heavily in this skill taking all perks, except for Matching Set and Reflect Blows. Conditioning is an essential skill, because removing armor weight gives us more mobility and also reduces sound, helping Maximus to be a perfect Assassin-Knight. Maximus will make Farkas a rich man-wolf in exchange for lessons in a subtle art of blocking with face.
Archery: Take only ranks in Overdraw perk. Wielding a war bow with any skill takes decades of training, but Maximus was too busy trading blows in Shield wall and testudo to learn that skill. However, he also experienced plenty of unconventional combat to appreciate the benefits of a crossbow. Most often I used a crossbow bolt or two as a means of saying Hello to adversaries, inviting them for a more intimate face-to-sword kind of discussion. Crossbow is also useful to land dragons, instead of just gawking at them before getting Dragon rend shout. If necessary, crouch to get x2 initial sneak damage and poison your shot with generic poisons.
Restoration: This perfectly valid school of magic keeps Maximus alive and away from grindy potion making. Fast heal and later Close wounds enhanced with Regeneration are neat spells to cast mid combat. Later take Necromage perk to kick undead guts even harder.
Alteration: Even thought Maximus wears all heavy armor and shield, flesh spells are needed on higher difficulties. In addition, Paralysis rune, added in Anniversary Edition is a neat crowd control spell. Atronach perk combined with Atronach standing stone power brings our spell absorption to 80% and Stability perk also has its benefits.
Destruction: Maximus only starts using destruction spells after discovering the truth about his lineage and completing Boethiah’s quest. Maximus’s rage and ambition manifest in unprecedented affinity with Fire element. He uses exclusively Fire spells. Fire cloak and Mara’s Wrath (terrible name, we’ll pretend it’s called Boethiah’s Wrath) symbolize Maximuses burning rage and are cast at the start of a battle. Ebony mail’s dark shadow engulfed in flames makes for a look to die for and deal respectable DOT. Maximus doesn’t have enough mana or cost reduction enchantments to use any destruction projectiles, but an occasional Fire Rune cast with silent casting illusion perk is great.
Illusion: Illusion is lvled to 50 by casting Muffle spell out of combat only to get silent casting spell. 4 perk investment might not be the most efficient choice from combat effectiveness perspective, but I wanted Maximus to be a balanced Assassin-Knight and it goes well with our dishonorable character development giving more flexibility to stealthy approaches.
Sneak: Only 3 perks are needed: 1 Rank in Stealth, Muffled Movement and Backstab. Muffled Movement actually silences only 50% and another 50% comes from Ebony Mails enchantment. After allying himself with Boethiah, Maximus masters the art of deceit Leaving any notions of honor behind him, Maximus dispatches of single enemies ruthlessly. I enjoyed using stealthy approach mostly in indoor locations against humanoid enemies. After getting Silent Casting perk, we can enhance sword and dagger with Elemental fury, performing a devastating dual-power attack.
Lockpicking and Speech: These skills are not perked, nor are they essential, but I couldn’t leave a chest unopened and what kind of assassin can’t pick a lock? Both skills lvl up naturally, giving you perks to invest elsewhere. I’d love to take perks like intimidation in speech skill for RP, but didn’t have any to spare. lvl 61 perks
Optional perk allocation: If you don't agree that investing 4 perks in Illusion to get silent casting is worth it, invest them elsewhere e.g. Stability (Alteration), Recovery 2/2 (Restoration), Intense Flames (Destruction). Also in one of my play-throughs I only invested Shield Wall 1/5 and Quick reflexes to blocking and took 4 perks in archery left side: Eagle Eye, Power Shot, Quick Shot and Bullseye. Thus leaning more towards assassin than legionary. That one Basic smithing perk shown in lvl 32 perkspread is refunded in later game and not shown in lvl 61 perkspread.
Armor & Weapons
Starting gear: Wolf armor and Boots (Self-enchanted with Muffle at lvl 14), Fists of Randagulf, Imperial Crested Helmet, Iron Banded shield (ideally with blocking enchantment), Amulet of Talos and best ring of wielding you can find.
Starting weapons: Skyforge steel sword, Silver sword or Blades sword, until you pick up ebony scimitar. Enhanced Silver Crossbow and skyforge steel dagger.
Endgame gear: Ebony mail, Ebony Boots of extreme Stamina (+60), Ebony gauntlets of extreme wielding (+35%), Ebony shield of extreme blocking (+35%), Imperial Crested Helmet (self-enchanted with Fortify Destruction), Ring of Erudite or best ring of wielding or archery, Amulet of Talos. Also, an Imperial officers’ silver or golden cloak from Cloaks of Skyrim mod was a must visually for me.
Endgame Weapons: Ebony schimitar, Dragonbane, Goldbrand, Enhanced Silver Crossbow of fiery souls, Blade of sacrifice.
Get Ebony scimitar by killing Kenro in Fahlbthars dwarven ruins in Solstheim. Ebony Scimitar is the best unenchanted one-handed sword and can be picked at any lvl.
Enchantment notes: After completing Dragonborn questline, I had lvl 30 in Enchanting from recharging weapons, so I invested 3 perks in Enchanting: Enchanter 2/5 and Fire Enchanter. I drank Enchanters Elixir and used black soulgems to enchant my Enhanced silver crossbow with Fiery Soultrap and my Imperial Crested Helmet with Fortify destruction (About 15%, not much but it's something). After that I immedietely refunded 3 perks from enchanting and 1 from Smithing. That was the extend of crafting I've done in this build.
Factions & Quests (In somewhat chronological order)
For roleplaying purposes aim to do ‘good’ quests such as Dibella’s and Mara’s quests and altruistically helping citizens, before Maximus allies with Boethiah and goes full “Anakin, the younglings slayer” and black book quests and other ‘evil’ quests after that.
Main Quest line. After nearly losing his head on a chopping block and being miraculously saved by a dragon attack, Maximus puts a pause on rejoining the Legion, feeling honor bound to warn Whiterun of dragon attack and see where fate leads him. While infiltrating the Thalmor embassy Maximus finds a dusty dossier with his own name on it:After decades of searching and wondering, it’s all clear now: Maximus is the last living descendant of a Septim dinysty. It may be diluted, matrilineal bastard’s bloodline, but it was enough to make Mede dynasty tremble with fear and send his Father and brothers to certain death as well as for Thalmor to take keen interest. The dossier drops from Maximuses trembling hands as uncontrollable rage and a need for vengeance grips him.
Boethiah’s Calling With so powerful enemies, Maximus will have to find an even stronger ally. He shall continue to worship Talos, but will ally himself with He-Who-Destroys and She-Who-Erases. Alliegence to Boethiah will give him the power and cunning needed to overcome the odds, but it comes at the price of his honor. From now on Maximus will seek his vengeance against emperor Titus Meed and his lackies Penitus Oculatus, as well as Thalmor by any means necessary.
Companions (Before Boethiah’s Calling). Maximus will join the ranks of honorable Companions to hone his combat skills, but distanced himself when offered the “blessing” of Hircine.
Dark Brotherhood (Immediately after Boethiah’s Calling). The means to exact his revenge and get a dark steed fit for a dark legionary.
Civil War, Imperial Legion (After killing the Emperor). The emperor is dead and maximus starts building his own reputation and gaining allies to stake his claim on Ruby Throne.
Thieves Guild (after Boethiah’s Calling). Maximus will join the thief’s guild to build his underground network of allies and hear rumors of his enemies, but will not get heavily involved with these sorry sewer dwellers.
The Blades. Maximus will rebuild the blades to be loyal to him alone and use them to destroy Penitus Oculatus.
Harkon’s Court/Dawnguard (after completing dark brotherhood questline). After Maximus satisfies his personal need for revenge, it is time to pay back the debt to our dark mistress Boethiah by slaying her enemy’s Molag Bal’s champion: Harkon. Join Dawnguard and bathe in blood of Molag Bal’s children, or pull a deceit worthy of Boethiah by joining Harkon’s court and overthrow him from inside.
Dragonborn questline and black book quests (after Boethiah’s Calling). Knowledge is power and for a no-crafting character every little bit adds up. Not essential for characters story, but black book powers and All-Maker stone powers increase Maximuses combat capabilities and make him more versatile.
Miscellaneous Quests:
Unearthed. If you dislike full helmets for some reason or are looking to push this build to maximum proficiency, Mask of Ahzidal combined with 2 ranks of Augumented Flames perk brings us to +75% fire spell power and +50% fire resistance. Also Ralis is a perfect candidate for Pillar of Sacrifice in Boethiah’s Calling quest. I used circlet helmet Mod instead of dragonpriest mask once Maximus stoped carying about anonymity and started building renoun.
A Matter of Pride. a Creation Club added quest to get Boethiah’s artifact, Goldbrand. A golden katana with strong fire enchantment that will synergize with our perk choices.
Caught in a web. a short quest for a pair of very useful gauntlets early game.
The White Phial. A great item to have for a non-crafting character. Choose more damage in battle and enjoy +50% one-handed damage for 60 seconds once in a day.
The Book of Love, The Heart of Dibella, Frostflow Lighthouse, Bards College questline, Black Book quests. All of these quests give Maximus neat passive abilities, so needed in a non-crafting build.
Combat
The most satisfying part of the build is the aesthetics of combat. Once you get ebony mail and can cast fire cloak, you’ll become a fully armored dark demon soldier of vengeance, engulfed by flames of hell, slashing heads off right and left. Kill moves just look epic every time, and I guarantee that you’ll be hooked.
Sword and board combat is this builds core, however we have a dozen different approaches to keep it interesting. This is the first non-crafting build I was able to pull off on legendary difficulty in vanilla setting, and master difficulty with combat mods.
I would often open combat by saying hello with a bolt or two into the most armored opponent as enhanced crossbow ignores 50% of armor. This would get me everyone’s attention. Cast Elemental Fury shout and dispatch the easiest opponents with sword and dagger power attacks and face the boss with a shield. Archers can be easily approached in Ethereal form or Fus-Ro-Dah them of a cliff.
If the opponents are serious, position yourself in an advantageous spot protecting your flanks or narrowing enemy approach and silently cast flesh spell, fire cloak or Mara’s wrath and a paralysis rune at your feet before firing a few sneaky poisoned bolts, thus luring enemies in your trap.
When moving through dungeons, caves or fortresses I found sneakily slitting bandit throats most satisfying.
When facing a boss in a duel let him frustrate himself on your shield, he’ll be taking DOT from Mara’s wrath (+50% from fire mastery perks and optionally another 25% from Mask of Ahzidal makes it viable DOT even on higher difficulties) and ebony mails poison damage. Elemental Fury imbued Ebony scimitar can easily get 3 slashes between enemies one attack. Back off and quick heal yourself if needed.
When charged by several hard opponents, cast paralysis rune, dual-wield sword and dagger and spin like crazy.
Dual wielding with Elemental fury works also nicely on dragons and dragon priests. At the end-game you’ll have 80% spell absorption – don’t bother blocking spells from spellcasters, just rush them and spin power-attack.
When surrounded by waves of undead, I would become ethereal and cast Fire Storm spell, immediately followed by Sun Flare. It’s atomically effective.
Followers
Maximus’s journey to power and revenge is a lonely one and he has serious, paranoia-like trust issues. Also, I never felt the need for any followers for combat reasons, preferring to take all exp by myself, be it blocking with face or shield. That being said, lovely Serana is welcome to tag alone on occasion. Also cheating Clavius Vile out of an immortal, most loyal companion Barbas, seems like something Maximus might enjoy doing. Get hammered with Sam and receive Sanguine Rose to summon a Dremora Lord in need? Summon Spectral Assassin? Sure, why not.
Optional Mods:
This build is meant for vanilla game, but I can suggest a few mods to enhance the experience. Wintersun – faiths of Skyrim was a great addition for roleplaying Boethiah “worshiper”. Dragon priest circlets mod or Circlet Helms mod allowed me to use Ahzidal Circlet without looking like an idiot. Cloaks of Skyrim and Bandolier mods are aesthetical essentials of my every modlist. USSEP and CCOR help avoid bugs and abuses. Amidianborn Book of Silence textures were overhauled by Ebony Armor retextures and Knight Armor (for slicker gauntlets and boots) textures.
“My name is Maximus Augustus Sestius, A soldier of the 8th Legion, a loyal servant of the Empire, A son of a murdered father, a brother of murdered siblings and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next!”
Replies
This build is really cool I have always thought the closed imperial helmet does not get enough love. I hardly ever actually follow any builds but I get good ideas from them but I think I will probably play this. Side note I just watched the new gladiator movie and I could not help but think of it the whole time That I read this.
Thank you so much, glad you like it. I only watched the original Gladiator like a dozen times, but perhaps I'll bring myself around to watch the new one. P.S. If you did really like the build, leave a like (that heart thingie), no preasure tho.
The Bittercup creation also adds a gladiator themed helmet
Yeah, Grand champion's Helm. Looks good with Lords Mail and Imperial dragon set from Civil war champions. A bit too flashy for my tasty tho.