THE ARCH FENJUNTIID
FOREMOST WILL OF AKATOSH
Ive wanted to share a little build that has been floating around my head, combining fast-paced combat, stealth, and magic into one tight cohesive and balanced package with plenty of very unique twists. A spellsword agent of divine will, using alteration for offence rather than defence and striking like lightning as they weave in and out of combat, casting powerful spells and shouts to creatively tear apart any battlefield. Able to handle everything, from magical colleges to dragon hunting to assassination, and fit in while doing it with a relevant reason for it all. Sounds interesting? then read on.
I HEAVILY recommend you don't play this build unmodded and instead install Ordinator, Andromeda, and some magic mods of choice (I recommend Arcanum and Glamoril for spells. The first is just a very high-quality general spell mod, while the latter specifically deals with things like time manipulation and cutting reality) Also best played blasting doom music.
This is the first build I've ever posted, so I hope it's up to par.
Backstory:
The Fenjuntiid are an (entirely non-canon) group of people, each handcrafted by Akatosh when time first began, created to represent each race. They were made as emergency safeguards to prevent irreparable damage to the timeline and, to a lesser extent, the plans of the divines as blades to the necks of those who would wish to use the powers of the elder scrolls, the numidium, and other similar artefacts and powers to shape reality to their will without the divine knowledge and foresight needed to do so safely.
It was they that sabotaged the heart of Lorkhan to eliminate the Dwemer, it was they that poisoned Tiber Septim to quash his immortality and end his life with a heart attack, and it is they that serve as the even more mysterious phantom hands guiding the already shrouded psyjic order.
While they serve forces that are good in nature (at the very least, better than the Daedra or mortals granted power over time), they have no qualms about taking drastic actions for the greater good of preserving Mundus. The Dwemer, if their torn apart and merged souls could speak, would back this fact. Assassination, conquest, and possibly even genocide are all a means to an end to these agents.
This does not mean they are pointlessly cruel, to the contrary, a peaceful and morally upstanding solution is always preferred, but when dealing with Daedra and forces threatening to destroy reality itself more drastic measures are often called for and they have no issue answering. Sometimes, Akatosh and his agents have found, history must be carved with bloodied blades upon flesh rather than ink quills on parchment.
You, however, are not amongst the ordinary agents, you are the Arch-Funjuntiid, tasked with navigating and solving the colossal web of intrigue, assassination, and world-ending or conquering plots organized by everyone from mortals to the Daedra. The efforts of the nordic fenjuntiid were not enough and the son of Akatosh has escaped his imprisonment upon the streams of time with a hunger to consume the world, and in this time of chaos and disorder the Daedra and mortals alike have found the perfect opportunity to spring their plots and plans. Your job, as the will of the gods, is to put an end to them all.
You find yourself cast to Skyrim through a tear in time, carving a crater within the snow. Arcs of lightning have melted streams of snow in snaking patterns around you, igniting dead tree trunks and half-frozen bushes. Smoke and steam rise into the air... and you find a sword to your neck, held by an imperial captain. travelling through the steams of time has weakened you, much as it did your quarry, and you are in no shape to fight back. You let the imperials tie your hands and strip you of your gear, for Akatosh would not have outright sent you into an ambush were it not his plan.
(Alternatively, with live another life, roleplay arriving in some other location away from civilization and making your way to a nearby town or city. Ask around for information about any odd occurrences, preferably with a mug of ale after your long trip. Besides, the bartenders have probably heard their fair share of rumours and could point you the right way.)
Race:
As per the lore above, really any race could work. Even modded ones if you wanted to go that route. Id recommend using a mod like imperious to grant your choice a little flavour, but it's largely meaningless on the grand scheme of things. I chose to play mine as a khajiit, as making them look like a cheetah while zipping about was hard to pass up.
Altmer (High elf):
An altmer character could be interesting for more than their bonuses. While they would fit in with the thalmor, they would be oftentimes fighting them and sit directly opposed to their goal of sending the world to its primordial state. They, due to their upbringing (or lack thereof?) would show far more humility than normal high elves. At the same time, an Altmer Dragonborn would really be a headscratcher for the stormcloaks, hopefully tempering their more racist side and being a bit of delicious irony if they fought with the empire against them.
Unmodded, their bonus to magicka and the highborn ability would be a useful way early on to cast a large amount of spells, though both these aspects are later rendered useless by perks in the ordinator alteration tree. The skill bonuses to magic would however remain useful, giving you a headstart on reaching said perks.
Argonian:
While obviously not a dragon, they could far more easily play into such an aesthetic. An argonian dragonborn would be similarly surprising to the stormcloaks, though less than an altmer one.
Their unmodded perks are generally useless, though there is some utility in more easily winning brawls and being able to dive for any period of time. Most useful however are their bonuses to alteration and light armour, two of the three core skills of their build, along with the bonus to sneak.
Breton:
Doesnt really provide any unique roleplay opportunity, as nobody has much for or against the Bretons and they have little influence on the affairs of skyim. Youll be welcome almost anywhere however, without the prejudice other races might face, possibly leaning you to more of a diplomatic view.
While the uniqueness is lackluster, the perks arent. Magic abosrbing, more magic resistance, and bonuses to alteration and speech. Useful both for warriors and spellcasters, and you are both.
Dark elf:
They look cool and the stormcloaks don't really like them. that's about it in terms of roleplay since you won't be adhering to much of the dark elf religion/culture.
Their abilities are also not very useful. A once a day fire cloak and some fire resistance. Most useful however are the skill bonuses to Alteration, Light armour, and sneak.
Imperial:
Also rather boring in terms of roleplay, seeing as nobody has much of a problem with them and your dislike of the thalmor is expected. You being the dragonborn wouldn't be too surprising either. Seeing as you won't be worshipping Talos the thalmor hatred of the religion also won't be a problem to you specifically.
Imperial luck becomes rather pointless as you continue on (you'll have a mountain of gold without any bonuses), and voice of the emperor isn't that good of a power. The skill bonuses also leave a lot to be desired in regards to this particular build. Id recommend avoiding them.
Khajiit: A khajiiti dragonborn would surprise the stormcloaks, a khajiit rebel against the thalmor would surprise them, and a khajiit can take on the whole cheetah appearance to fit the ludicrous speeds they will be moving around the battlefield with. great roleplay opportunity.
Night eye is unfortunately a rather terrible power and the only relevant bonuses are to sneak and one handed. The extra fist damage can help with brawls however.
Good roleplay, bad bonuses.
Nord:
Boring as all hell roleplay wise. You're exactly the thing everyone expected.
Battlecry is very useful, but the skill bonuses are rather lacklustre.
Orc:
While unexpected, I think they would still be easier to wrap one's head around than an elf or beast Dragonborn. Their unfortunately ugly as sin and would probably be a bit shunned from generally everywhere. Still, some people like playing outcasts.
Berserker Rage is very powerful, but the skill bonuses arent that good.
Redgaurd:
Who even plays redgaurd?
Rare enough that people wouldn't hold much of an opinion other than seeing you as an outsider, and not that hard to accept as the dragonborn.
The power is very useful, and the skills actually hold relevance with a nice bonus to one handed and alteration.
Bosmer (Wood elf):
Your not bound to any pacts so don't expect to be doing much cannibalism. You would however surprise both the stormcloaks and thalmor.
Command animal isn't very good and the only relevant skill bonuses are to side skills.
Stone:
With the Andromeda mod the best stone for this build hands down is the shadow stone found outside Riften. The
extra 20% movement speed in combat stacks with all your other bonuses to make you even faster, you sneak better when near walls, and most fitting to the build, you can unlock the ability to teleport to targets up to 75 feet at will by using 50 stamina, in and out of combat. This is incredible both for sneaking around, eliminating any archers/sentries, and rapidly closing the gap when needed so you can jump into combat in an instant. The best part about it? using it won't use any of your limited spells. It's practically free.
Go ahead, unleash your inner Corvo Attano, teleporting from target to target in both stealth and combat. Be sure to chain it with other spells for extra fun.
Dash to some archer prick and stab them in close range! teleport to some sentry and render your foes vigilance useless! Get to the Whiterun market quicker by teleporting behind Nazeem and making him soil himself in the process!
An argument could also be made for apprentice stone, as it makes your novice spells free. there are however similar perks in the alteration tree.
Unmodded, the lovers stone is probably the best choice due to the all-around skill gain bonus. You are a hybrid of all three archetypes after all.
As always, the guardian stones are still good for early game levelling.
Stats:
An equal ratio of health and stamina.
"But wait" I hear you asking "how are we supposed to cast spells without any magicka investment?". Well the answer is that with the perks were taking in alteration with ordinator, you wont need any Magicka at all. Past a certain point, stop investing in health, and instead invest entirely into stamina. If you feel like you've got a ridiculous amount of stamina, only then invest in magicka, as each level will allow you to have one extra free spell... on your base twenty.
If you're following this build unmodded, then follow an equal distribution into each stat instead.
Shouts:
Generally any shout that fits with the current situation. With the investment into the ordinator speech tree, you'll wind up able to use them as if they were just spells, except for free and without taxing your limited spell reserve. Thematically, unrelenting force, whirlwind sprint, slow time, become ethereal and elemental fury are the most fitting. Disarm and throw voice/ Aura whisper are also useful in certain situations.
Id also recommend installing a mod to add additional shouts like thunderchild, just for some more fun and variety.
Skills:
A meditating fenjuntiid
Core skills:
Alteration:
Alteration in this build is not used for defence, but for offence and the perk trees that entirely change how you use magic. Still, there is nothing stopping you from casting a ward or stoneflesh.
For this build the most important perks are Vancian magic and intuitive magic.
Vancian magic only requires 30 skill in the tree. GET IT ASAP. It is by FAR the most important skill in the entire build, period.
What it does is it makes every spell completely free and twice as effective, but with a massive drawback. you can only cast twenty spells (at the start) before you need to rest and recharge at a camp or bed. This will let you cast even the most powerful spells like they were basic flames, keep your concentration spells up forever, and turn you into an incredibly powerful wizard that must use their spells strategically. With only twenty spells, you can't just go around casting fireballs. Plan your engagements beforehand, or, if surprised, turn invisible and think of a plan somewhere safer. This turns magic gameplay from run and gun into the rapid execution of carefully made plans, with devastating effect if done correctly.
The second most important skill in alteration is intuitive magic, which will make it so that novice and (later) apprentice spells arent comparatively worthless by making them free to cast. they will no longer cut into your limited spell count. It requires 50 skill in alteration however, so you'll need to be rather capable before you can grab it.
Other fitting or useful skills include:
Distorted shape (40), which makes you ethereal for a short time upon casting your flesh spell in combat. Since they all cost the same, just use whichever flesh spell is strongest.
Spellblade (40), which increases attack damage for a short time after casting a spell.
Alter self (40, 60), which is just free stat bonuses and resistances
wellocks dormant arcana (60) which can make invisibility or armour spells (or others, but don't pick them) give a large amount of chosen bonuses when used
Dungeon master (70), which lets you choose between a greater number of weaker spells or fewer stronger spells when recharging your vancian magic.
Energy roil (70) which makes one-handed spells massively decrease the armour of those near you. Good against heavily armoured targets.
The monarch (70) whos main perk is rather useless to you but whose secondary will quickly drain the mana of any enemy mages around you (including dragons, who, reminder, cant shout with no mana).
Nullifier (90) which stops mana and stamina regen of nearby foes. pairs well with the above perk.
and arcane thesis (100) which lets you make one chosen spell far stronger than normal. pick wisely.
Light armour:
Light armour is used less so for defence, and more so for speed. There are numerous perks within the skill tree that will make you a blur in combat, though, unfortunately, many are higher up on the tree. I'd recommend training the skill, as it will be levelling rather slowly otherwise.
Many perks in light armour give you powerful bonuses when you enter combat, but these don't last the whole fight. The solution? Leaving and entering combat over and over with invisibility and teleportation. Keep your foes hopelessly confused and reap the rewards (and the increased experience gain)
Light armour mastery (0) is the first perk you will get in this tree, and probably among the first perks you'll pick. While it makes the armour more effective, the more important part is the free experience when entering combat. Which, thanks to what we will be doing, will happen several times in any fight.
Initiative (40) will give you rapidly regenerating stamina when you first enter a fight. ~20% per second for 15 seconds. This means power attacks galor. But you want to know what makes this even better? the shadow stone. Remember, that teleport costs stamina, not Magicka.
Windrunner and Unhindered (both 50) respectively serve to make you 10% faster and make light armour weightless respectively.
Wardancer and Spelldancer (70 and 80 respectively) make your attacks, from both spells and weapons, 20% more effective so long as you haven't been struck by an unblocked attack in the past six seconds. blocked attacks are fine.
lightning strike (90) almost doubles critical hit damage for the first 10 seconds of a fight.
tempting fate (100) Is the most powerful perk, giving you 20% extra movespeed when you dodge rather than try to block an enemy power attack. this speed bonus doesn't go away unless you leave combat, meaning it can be worth staying in the fight once you've got it.
Speech:
Another "what?" perk tree. speech in ordinator, however, can be used to buff dragon shouts along with the more typical better prices/conversation options. This is taken more as a combat skill than a support skill, and most investment will be in increasing the power of shouts.
and the universe listens (20) will make shouting restore attributes depending on the shouts cooldown while also giving speech exp for shouting. This is a core perk of this approach and will allow you to both stay in and recover from fights far more effectively.
windborne (40) will increase your attack speed by 30% and movement speed by 15% for 15 seconds after shouting. Importantly, this stacks.
Force redoubled (50) which gives a 25/50 percent chance to make a shouts cooldown 3 seconds after using it. its as strong as it seems. Shout once, shout again, possibly shout a third time, and become a blur of whirling blades.
hurricane force (60) just makes your shouts against others more powerful depending on your speech skill. when you first get it, it will be a 60% bonus.
Thuum of war (70) will knock down enemies with <25% health, massively decrease armour of every foe around you, all the while making them stagger.
merciless storm (80) grants a power that cancels shout cooldown once a day.
dovazullan (100) makes every shout you use for 120 seconds after using merciless storm also shout the previous shout. Meaning double unrelenting force... or double slow time... along with the stacking benefits to movement and attack speed. This can get out of hand very quickly.
Side skills:
Oftentimes on their own, a fenjuntiid must be versatile.
Along with the core skills, you'll want to pick a one-handed weapon and follow its path in the one-handed tree. Be sure to also pick up some duel wield perks to take full advantage of attack speed bonuses. Keep a pair of enchanted and unenchanted weapons. Or, alternatively, summon them!
Youll want to invest two points into sneak mastery, one point into sneak attack, and one point into demolition job just to make your engagements from stealth, and stealth itself, more powerful. Remember, you will oftentimes be jumping in and out of sneak several times in one fight.
two points in illusion mastery, and two in silent storm, will make your invisibility more effective and your spells/shouts silent so you can create a perfect engagement. you generally wont be using illusion the degree that you'll level to this point naturally, so be sure to get some training.
Putting a point or two in the other magic schools, if you find you lean on one, can also be helpful.
Seeing as your already levelling up the tree, you may as well invest some points into the QOL speech tree perks.
Worried on losing out on crafting or enchanting? install a mod to let you hire npcs to do it for you. I've found that the prices for things like legendary swords and high quality weapons can go up to tens of thousands of septims, so don't worry about balance, you'll be paying a hell of a lot for them.
Roleplay:
As a fenjunttid, your are not as concerned with the petty squabbles of Skyrim as you are with saving the world. You have been sent chiefly to slay the escaped son of your god, Alduin, and prevent him from irreparably damaging the timeline. Until that is done, other concerns are secondary. You are not cruel or unnecessarily rude, just cold. Remain polite, but largely uncaring, there are bigger fish to fry.
Upon arrival in Skyrim, your absolute most important goal will be to slay Alduin. you cant save any kittens from trees or spouses from evil wizards if the world is destroyed. Pursue this goal with a single-minded drive.
Once that's done, you've generally got a justification for every guild.
CoW? powerful magic that needs to be looked after. Thieves guild? there's a guy running around altering reality, and also there's Daedra. Dark brotherhood? something or other, Akatosh wills it done since the emperor has deviated from his will and will be cataclysmic if not stopped (though be sure to kill everyone involved once your done). Civil war? almost certainly on the side of the empire, partly because Akatosh likes them more, partly to piss off the thalmor.
pursue DLC as they come up. Id recommend siding with the dawnguard over the vampires.
Combat:
The only time every fenjuntiid was deployed at once, safeguarding the sands of time from the ravages of oblivion while akatosh fought on mundus through his avatar.
Combat with the fenjuntiid is a blast. Zipping around, entering and exiting combat, guerilla warfare mixed with a blitzkrieg. To start, you'll be given movespeed, attack power, and stamina regen bonuses just off the bat, for free, allowing you to move around rapidly and use plenty of power attacks (be sure to duel weild). While you wont have the defenses of a tank, you will be near impossible to catch or hit, and this is your largest benefit.
If your the one engaging, be sure to do so from stealth. Lay traps and runes, Turn invisible, dash behind the most threatening target, and take them out there and then. Once you are inevitably spotted (be sure to not use daggers for stealth to make it more fun), Shout. Shout as much as you can. Stack as many move speed and attack speed bonuses as you can while flinging your foes like ragdolls and disarming them, all the while making yourself even faster by dodging attacks in perfect safety from an ethereal state given to you by flesh spells or the shout and bending time to your will. Cast powerful illusion and destruction spells to disorganize and destroy them further.
By the time they even draw their swords, they should be severely weakened and disorganized, unable to regain lost magicka and stamina, and you should have stacked up a ridiculous buff to move speed and attack speed. Wade (or teleport) on in with your twin weapons and hack them into tiny pieces with lightning speed or cut them down with even more volleys of powerful magic. Your stamina will be regenerating with incredible speed, so be sure to teleport from target to target. Don't even waste time walking or running if you can.
If anything is alive by this point, turn invisible, leave combat, let your cooldown go down a little as you recover from any damage you may have taken, and then assassinate some poor bastard to start the carnage all over again, getting all the buffs to stamina regen and speed all over again.
The goal of the combat style is to deal as much damage as possible in very short intervals. Your ability to stay in combat for longer periods, on account of your cooldowns and limited spells, is horrible, but you can deal massive damage to any enemies in a short period, "retreat", recover in seconds, and jump back in again for another burst.
Abilities:
With the chosen perks, some select spells, and the standing stone, the fenjuntiid becomes a master of guerilla warfare and blitzkrieg tactics through their incredibly varied arsenal of tricks.
Blur: Passively, in combat, the fenjuntiid is 30% faster. Every shout makes them 15% for 15 faster in addition. Dodging power attacks makes them 20% faster. This means that as a minimum, with a single shout, they are 50% faster than anyone else in a fight. With some luck, they can go up to twice as fast or more. this makes them damn near impossible to track or hit.
Blitzkrieg: Upon entering combat, along with the move speed bonuses, the fenjuntiid can expend 3 times their stamina sprinting, power attacking, and teleporting over 15 seconds and still be full at the end. Every shout cast when engaging will also help recover more stamina and health, all the while making their attacks faster. during this time, critical hits deal nearly double damage.
Blink: can expend 75 stamina out of their rapidly regenerating pool of stamina to teleport from target to target in an instant. simple.
Vancian: While their spells are limited, they can cast even the most powerful spells for free with double the effectiveness. Weaker spells can be kept up indefinitely.
Ethereal: Upon casting a flesh spell, including those made free, they are ethereal for ten seconds or until they attack.
Steelbreaker: Shouts and spellcasting will drastically reduce the armour of their foes, leaving them vulnerable to follow up attacks. This includes spells that have been made free.
Entropy: Nothing near them can regenerate magicka or stamina. Magicka will be constantly drained.
Unceasing Thunder: Shouting can reset the shout cooldown.
Unyielding force: Shouts targeting others are up to twice as powerful. shouts stagger those nearby and knock down foes with <25% health.
Battleshaper: Shouting increases attack speed by 30% for 15 seconds and move speed by 15% for 15 seconds. this stacks. Shouts regenerate attributes based on their cooldown.
Twice striking lightning: at any time, once a day, can cancel shout cooldown to shout again. Shouts after this will also shout the previous shout for 120 seconds.
Juntiidfus: The once a day combination of all four of the above. Its hard to overstate just how powerful this is. So, let me give a rather typical example:
You enter battle, and shout a full shout. Everyone nearby is staggered and vastly less armoured. Force redoubled is triggered. You can shout again, once more staggering everyone. Force redoubled fails to trigger. You use Merciless storm. You shout once more, this time shouting twice at the same time. The two shouts can each trigger force redoubled, and one does. You shout again, carrying the last shout to double shout once more. force redoubled doesn't trigger.
Now what? Well, you've just pelted your foes with six full shouts that are twice as strong as normal. Your health and stamina are filled. Your movement speed is 90% faster, along with your already 30% faster base move speed. your attack speed is 3 times as fast as normal. every surrounding enemies armour rating is 1800 points lower (about the same as a three word marked for death after 20 seconds of being active) and they are staggered.
Probably a few of those shouts were things like slow time or elemental fury.
Whatever your fighting is, at this point, almost certainly screwed, but how about we go even further? If you've followed my advice to install thunderchild you can pick up another power that resets your shout cooldown once a day, and, through some questing, the ability to reset shout cooldown when entering combat and the power to make your first shout in combat free. lets try this again, with another example.
The unending storm of the sands of time:
here's an example:
Shout once outside of combat. Force redoubled triggers. shout again. it doesn't trigger. Enter combat. Shout cooldown is reset. Shout once. Shout is free. Shout again. Force redoubled triggers. shout again. It doesn't trigger. Use the ordinator power to reset your shout cooldown. Shout again, twice at once. Force redoubled triggers. Double shout again. By chance, it doesn't trigger. Use the power from thunderchild to reset the cooldown. Double shout again. Force redoubled triggers. Double shout once more, and finally your spent.
13 shouts, back to back. each twice as powerful as normal. you are moving around 3 times as fast as anything else, probably more like 30 compared to others with slow time. your attack speed is five times the normal, probably even more with help from elemental fury and dual-wielding perks, to around 60-70 times as fast as all the slowed down chumps around you. They are staggered, and their armour is 3900 points lower.
And guess what? once you leave combat the shout cooldown resets AGAIN. so you can engage another group or reengage the same group if you somehow hadn't slaughtered them.
This. This is the ultimate combo, and one only achievable with maximum skill in speech.
Flowing mana:
Less impressive, but still powerful. Slow time, and spam the most powerful spells you can all at once. Just absolutely goddamn level whatever it is you are fighting.
Disengage:
And, finally, the most powerful ability. Just chug a potion of invisibility or pop a spell and hide somewhere. Seriously. Shouts will cool down, you can reengage, and you can start the carnage of the other abilities all over again. If your satisfied with your carnage, meditate for 24 h to reset the cooldowns on the powers.
Replies
hey man just wanted to say that the build is awesome, will def make it my next playthrough. one question though, is there a certain type of armor, modded in or not, that you intended this build to have? Or did you intend to just use whatever is the strongest light armor available at the time?
Personally I used a mod to change a pair of blades gauntlets/boots into light armor (not a conversion, one of the debug/tool mods, don't remember the name), didn't wear a helmet, used whatever chest piece looked the best with them as i came across them.
But honestly the blades gauntlets and blades boots look good with basically anything