THE BETRAYED LORD
Shornhelm, Castle Crownfang, First Era- 660
The whole Nirn have been enveloped by darkness caused by the disappearance of Magnus, the people of Shornhelm or the ones calling themselves Hillmen have started to tied the phenomenon with the recent activities of a coven of Wyrd-Hags… Or so they thought.
“M’lord, we’ve received a letter from King Berthulic” the messenger said as he catches his breath from running towards the noble’s chamber. The noble answered with a sigh and put away the quill “Care to mind your manners, o messenger? Is it really that urgent that you rushed into my chamber without knocking?” the noble asked with a calm, yet there’s a killing intent dripping from those words of his. “F-Forgive, m’lord. The envoy said that it is at the most urgent that you must receive this letter, sir” he said, bowing his head continuously after realizing what he have done and the consequences of his action.
The raven-haired lord gestured the messenger to give him the letter without looking towards him, the messenger approached him slowly and hand over it to his lord, he then ran away as the lord gestured him to be away from his presence. The lord let out a frustrated sigh as he starts opening his letter “Must he really annoys me like this? Even though he’s a king, he surely knows a bit more about manners”, he thought. As he read the letter, his face grew dimmer with each word he reads “So, it’s time” he whispered. He then got up and put on his cloak, striding into the dark corridor and into the armoury.
As he enters the armoury, he noticed that some of the knights have prepared their armours, arms, and steeds, they bowed upon noticing him approaching from the corridor. The lord then ordered his squires to prepare his armour, steed, and weapon, as he waits for them finished, the knights asked him about the matters that sent him here “My liege, it’s quite a rarity to witness you went out with full armour and arms, is something the matter?” one of them asked “Berthulic sent me to the Lokrata Hills” the lord answered, many of them surprise towards how he answered the call by sending off his knights with him in charge instead of a delegate. He then assembled his knights right outside the castle right after he finished arming himself and readied his steed.
“Men, I have received an order from King Berthulic himself. This is a calling that we MUST follow, however…” He paused, looking at every able-bodied man he mustered with grim expression “For those that wanted to leave out this mission for any reasons…” He paused again, thinking about the consequences of the said order for the rest of his men “Will be forgiven, and will be allowed to return to their family” As he finishes his sentence, his men look towards each other, confused at how their liege acts and how uncharacteristically merciful he is right now. “M-M’lord?” Before one of them could finish their question, the lord roared “THIS SUMMON REQUIRES US TO KILL OUR OWN BRETHREN!” his men then realized the weight that their liege bears “That bastard Berthulic wanted us to slaughter the people they deemed as Wyrd-Hags! He thought that this blasted eclipse is their doings and if I didn’t answer his call, then they will come for you first and then YOUR FAMILY!” he said as he encircles his men and shows them the letter he just received. “I’m begging you, for those that still uphold their loyalty to the people of Shornhelm, please leave, return to your family and protect them from the King’s men. However, for those that still wanted to follow me, we ride now. I won’t wait for you” and with that, the lord rode to Lokrata Hills, with only a few men behind him, he prayed to any deity that will witness this atrocious act to grant him and those that followed him mercy.
Lokrata, Shornhelm, First Era-660
As they arrived, the lord without hesitant rushed towards one of the Hags and cut her down, followed by the scream from the rest of the women. His men then enter the fray and begin pelting their spells against them, followed by some of the men that King Berthulic have mustered, including one Lord Harkon. “Ah, it is good to see you here, Medraut” Lord Harkon greeted him as he cut through his target. “Hold your tongue, Harkon. I’m not here for courtesy, I’m simply here to follow that bastard’s order” he said as he pointed his blade towards an unwary King Berthulic. A sinister smile carved upon Lord Harkon’s face as he continues to cut down every Wyrd-Hags that tried to pelt him with their spells.
The scream of agony and dread filled Lokrata’s air that day as the ground painted with the mix of blood and ground. Lord Medraut noticed one lone tree up in the hill and he realized that that one is definitely the last of this Wyrd-Hags “Men, search around this area, I will deal with the last one myself!” he said as he rode to the tree. The cries of women and children could be heard from every direction he rode, each and every one of them too drowned with the sounds of them choking at their own blood or gasping their last breath, no matter how stoic he is, Medraut Montclair started to feel as if his sanity slipped away “May Ebonarm have mercy on our soul for we have betrayed our creed as a knight” he prayed silently as he rode to the lone tree. Upon arriving, he found one lone woman, carrying something while looking towards the tree.
“Ah, so here he comes! The saviour of Shornhelm, Medraut Montclair!” she rises up and turn around. Her visage is that of a weeping woman with streaks of tears pouring from her eyes, the lord looked towards the thing she carried and surprised that the thing she’s carrying, was her lifeless daughter, a fresh wound carved upon her neck. “How does your king fares, Montclair?” she said with a sarcastic tone. “I’m simply following my orders, lest my people too would suffer the same fate as yours did” he answers. The woman cackled maniacally “You? Following orders?! HAH! The Medraut Montclair that I know was a free-spirit! A man who would sacrifice anything to keep his families safe!” “It’s not that simple, my dear Agnes! He will eventually ki-“, before he could finish his sentence, she screamed “HOLD YOUR TONGUE MURDERER!” She summoned a sigil right below the lord and she utters a spell “O Nirn! Grant this traitorous spouse of mine a curse so that he may live his life shunned by mortals! And curse his men alongsi-“ before she could finish her spell, a red magical bolt shot right towards her, as Medraut turned around, his eyes widened upon realizing who it is yet before he could react, a green bolt shot towards him and he fell upon the ground.
“Oh, Montclair. Always so eager to follow your master's order, yet sometimes forgot that their loyalty means nothing before true power” he said as he smiled, baring his fangs as he stabbed Medraut, leaving him to writhe in pain. “He’s all yours, Piquine” is the last thing he heard before he succumbed to his wound.
The tragedy, now known as Purge of Wyrd-Hags are re-written by historians as an attempt to save the realm from a possible threat, King Berthulic, now hailed as the saviour of Hillmen built a fortress and named it Lokrata Hills to ‘commemorate’ his act as a ‘paragon of the people’ and those that mentioned about a village of Wyrd-Hags or ever utter the word “There was a village here” shall be ‘ostracized’. But, what of Medraut Montclair and his spouse's fate? The spouse’s body have been buried with the child she carried in an unmarked grave near the tree where she fell, the sigil is still there, none dared to touch or even purge it fearing that they will suffer the curse that still lingers, however, the lord’s body… Is nowehere to be found.
Castle Volkihar, Fourth Era-???
Centuries have passed and incident involving lord Medraut Montclair have been nothing but a water under the bridge. However, many have speculated that the grim lord has arisen from his grave to condemn those that are involved in the treacherous act towards him, including Lord Harkon. Lord Harkon however, was nothing but an outsider during the Purge of Wyrd-Hags, yet his presence back then and him dealing with King Berthulic regarding his death, remain scarred in the mind of this lord until his last breath. He lives in Castle Volkihar now, ruling the night while trying to fulfil a prophecy that would blot out the sun and making him one true ruler of the night, had it not due to his wife’s treachery, he now have the power to do so.
“My lord, everyone! Serana has returned!” Vingalmo’s voice echoes through the castle’s dining hall, shocking the lord and his court members followed by murmurs of astonishment. Lord Harkon looked towards the stair and see his daughter, safe and sound, yet contempt he is not, he seeks only the scroll etched to her back. “My long-lost daughter returns at last, I trust you have my Elder Scroll?” he asked with glee on his tone “After all these years, that’s the first thing you ask me?” she said, with a tone of disappointment, only for Harkon to glare her down “…Yes, I have the scroll” she continues “Of course I’m delighted to see you, my daughter, must I really say the words aloud?” Harkon said, trying to calm the tension he suddenly felt from the stair to outside. “Ah, if only your traitor mother were here, I would let her watch this reunion before putting her head on a spike!” he continues, yet he cannot deny the presence that stalked them from the stairs anymore “Now tell me, who is this stranger you brought into our hall?” he asked his daughter, she only cleared her throat and he came out of the shadow, looking down upon the whole court while going down the stairs and into Lord Harkon “This is my saviour, the one who freed me”.
At first, Lord Harkon seemed to felt a familiar presence from him, but “Just to be sure” is what he thought “For my daughter’s safe return, you have my gratitude. Tell me, what is your name?” “You first”, that voice… That calm, yet dripped with anger tone…. Impossible, right? “I am Harkon, lord of this court. By now, my daughter will have told you what we are”. “You’re all vampires” is all he said “Not just vampires. We are among the oldest and most powerful vampires in Skyrim”, Lord Harkon explained and continued with a short tale of his wife’s betrayal and his daughter being sealed away by her. The saviour looked around, to every court member he had and then asked “So, what now?”, Harkon breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that there’s no way that the saviour is that ‘stalwart lord’ he slew centuries ago. “You have done me a great service, and now you must be rewarded. There is but one gift I can give that is equal to the Elder Scroll and my daughter’s life, I offer you my blood. Take it, and you will walk as lion among sheep. Men will tremble at your approach, and you will never fear death again”.
“I’m already a vampire, what more can you offer me?” he asked. Harkon went quiet for a moment before he responded “You contracted a disease, perhaps, but you are no true vampire. Accept my gift and I promise you will learn the difference”, pah, this fledgling… There’s no way that this fledgling is Medraut Monclair, so he thought. “Refuse me and I will banish you from this castle. I will spare your life this once, but after that, you are prey”. “Perhaps you still need convincing, behold the power!” he cockily added as he transformed into a Vampire Lord “This is the power I offer!” he said as he loomed over him to show his dominance “Now, make your choice!”. “So, it is you, Harkon” His blood went cold, he was taken aback by what he just mouthed towards him. “I will gladly accept your gift, and become a vampire” as he said it, a sinister smile carved upon the saviour’s face. He realized it all too late, he cannot simply deny him after offering him such gracious reward, yet on the other hand, he didn’t want his court and his subjects to turn against him by showing that his kindness cannot be trusted. All he could do now, is to possibly send the saviour into nearly impossible tasks with the help of his co- No, Vingalmo and Orthjolf cannot be trusted, because if anyone wants the throne for themselves, it is these two and asking for help from them means that one would try to usurp, while the others... There'll be a war inside his court and he couldn't afford to lost any of his supporters to some foolish war of succession!
“Be still!” he said angrily as he wraps his wings towards the saviour and bite his neck, embracing him, what the saviour didn’t know is that very few people are able to withstand such potent bite, however for the first time ever, Harkon prayed, prayed so that the saviour's live taken swiftly.
Hello there, everyone! I do hope that this build will be a good one because holy moly, this build took me a long time to make (especially since I needed to decide between Skeletons or Raising Corpses for this one, which will be explained later on). But thankfully (and hopefully), this build is done and will be more balanced. Without further ado, here’s:
The Betrayed Lord
CHARACTER SHEET
Name: Medraut Montclair
Class: Death Knight
M/H/S: 2/2/1 (until Magicka goes to 200 and Stamina goes to 150 or 200, after that, put everything to health)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Race: Breton
Factions: Volkihar, College of Winterhold (Optional)
So, you might’ve wondered “What is Death Knight? Is it a homebrew class?” To which I’ll answer with yes (in a way), because the name "Death Knight" have already been mentioned in some of the Elder Scrolls iterations this class is actually a combination between Necromancer and Knights, adding their specialities into the mix such as Two-Handed, Block, Conjuration, Heavy Armour, and Illusion, then removing the ones that we won’t need much like One-Handed, Restoration, Speech, Alteration, and Destruction. This is a class I always wanted to try on and most of the times, it always ended with too OP or even too weak, but now, I’m pretty sure that this class (and build) will be a bit balanced than before.
The reason why I picked College of Winterhold (and mark it as Optional) is solely for his roleplaying, even though he sought revenge against Harkon, he knows that his current strength is not enough against this vampire, especially since this vampire is part of the Coldharbours too. So, by taking over the College, he’ll at least have an arsenal of spellcasters to help him and also, some ritual spells might be able to help him on his quest for revenge.
For his race, we’ll obviously choose Breton due to his lore coming from Shornhelm which is a kingdom in High Rock, also since we’re going to use Imperious too, Medraut will have a LOT of extra help from getting an extra standing stone effect to getting an artifact for extra regen boost. For the next one, we’re going to talk about his… Faith (yeah that doesn’t sound wrong at all). So, for his faith/belief, Medraut is a ‘Breton’ from First Era a.k.a Proto Breton a.k.a Man-mer, so he’ll most likely worship an old deity that may or may not have existed in this era, but, thanks to Wintersun, we can actually mimic what his ‘beliefs’ could be, so here’s the list:
Ebonarm
Ebonarm is an odd choice for a vampire to pick, especially those that are utilizing Conjurations. On my end, the Devotee boon (Ravens’ Harvest) actually affects the user as well if they are using any ‘summon’ or ‘reanimating’ related spells like Conjure Skeletal Marksman or Reanimate Corpse, but should you choose the Bone Collector perks, it won’t affect you at all and instead gave you a big armour boost and it’s easier to level up too since you’ll be utilizing Block skills for your combo later on.
Mannimarco
Should you choose the ‘reanimating’ branch in Conjuration, then this will be your best choice. For roleplay purpose, Medraut choosing Mannimarco can be linked with him being a vampire for a very, VERY long time and him learning how to control the curse that his would-be spouse cast upon him. Prolonged reanimation spells (especially during the night) AND its Devotee boons will definitely be a very beneficial boons for his freshly arisen troops.
And lastly, let’s not forget about the Standing Stones. I have Andromeda installed ever since I’ve been introduced with mods and Anniversary Edition, so in this chance, I’d like to put this on the test too for Medraut. Early on, he will have Apprentice stone at first just to compensate his magicka and to level up his Conjurations early on via spamming Bile Blight against the undead due to it being a novice level spell, many of his early spells are also novice levelled spells, so be sure to use it to your advantage just to level your magical skills. Also, Medraut being a Breton also means that he’ll get additional effects from this stone, which is magicka regeneration despite holding a spell on his hands, this will also give a tactical advantage for Medraut in case your casting target’s not yet present.
After getting into a certain level of mastery (let's say 50 to 70-ish of Conjurations and Illusions), you can now switch up to Lord Stone to boost Medraut’s power attacks and allows him to attack without any Stamina albeit at the cost of your Stamina cannot regenerate during combat and will decrease per tick in broad daylight too thanks to Medraut being a vampire.
SKILL TREES
This skill trees' specifically tailored for the Bone Collector branch in Conjuration, should you wish to switch into Reanimating branch, I’ve already labelled some of the perks as Optional.
Two Handed
What makes the difference between a brutish barbarian and a refined knight is that one will attack like a cornered beast, while the other fight like a pack of hunting beast, prowling their prey then with one coordinated strike, they fell upon them like avalanche towards a lone village.
Key Perks:
Clash of Champions 2/3: Since you’ll be in front line alongside your skeletons, might as well weaken your opponent so they won’t be able to retaliate with full force.
Subjugate: He might have a lot of minions behind him, however, as he grows in level, Medraut will need a more reliant attacker, and who else that can fit that role other than himself? This perk will allow you to basically slow your enemies’ attack, combine it with Lord Stone’s effect and…. You get the idea. Just be sure your allies didn’t get caught in your attack’s arc.
Humiliate: Draining your opponents of their Magicka and Stamina plus halting their regenerations? 'nuff said.
Overthrow (optional): Should you wish to take matters to your own hand, you can definitely try this perk to render your enemy vulnerable before sending them to the afterlife, just be sure to also pick Quick Reflexes if their power attacks are a bit unpredictable for you.
Block
Knights are often known for their role as vanguards for their lord or people, it is often shown in their form whenever they’re fighting. Knights are also depicted as a tactical fighter and Medraut is none of the exceptions, altering defence into offense is nothing but a child’s play in his book.
Key Perks:
Timed Block 2/2: You will be in the front line A LOT. Most of Medraut’s kit will be about supporting and assaulting the front line, so another means to attack will be a welcome sight for Medraut. Also, you’ll get Blood Knight with you so might as well pick a perk that ensures its constant triggers.
Poke a Dragon (Optional): This one depends on whether you want to make your riposte even stronger or not, and whether you picked Overthrow and Quick Reflexes or not, because this will absolutely help you to trigger your spell’s other effects that will be explained later on.
Quick Reflexes (Optional): The synergy between Overthrow, Poke a Dragon and this perk is superb, to the point that you will definitely survive the front line with a crazy amount of regen later on. But again, those are OPTIONAL PERKS in case you wanted to go for another method
Conjuration
Death follows Medraut every step, figuratively and literally. His troops may have been nothing but a husk of their former selves, but they are still as loyal
Key Perks:.
Make Way for Your Lord!: Aside from telling your minions to buzz off for a while, you can also use this perk’s power to surprise the enemies and also to save your minions from certain death
Dead Wave 2/2: You’ll need at least four skeletons to help you with your gank, you can actually do it with a single perk point in this perk, putting two in this is simply for precautions in case we messed up our ritual.
Skeleton Mage 2/2: This will allow you to choose which element would your skeleton use, and since I got AAE installed, I usually picked either Fire, Frost, or Staggers.
Conjure Altar: This will allow you to have a portable barrack so you don’t need to walk to one of the four altars spread across Skyrim.
Fire Ritual (Optional): Should you find that your skeletons are lacking calcium, this will give them an extra oomph towards their attacks and stats.
A bit of a sidenote for this perk in particular, if you wish to pick the other undead-related perks (the one that governs Reanimating spells), go ahead, however you’ll have to abandon Ebonarm because on my end, Ebonarm’s devotee blessing also affects you, leaving you more vulnerable despite having all of the perks to withstand the attacks.
Illusion
Aside from their defensive style, knights are also known as a good leader in the battlefield, their ability to guide their troops to the victory remains as the best among all of the Tamriel and Medraut is none of the exception. The curse even amplifies his ability to lead up to the point that the dead shall follow him
Key Perks:
Commanding Presence: With this, you don’t need to focus on casting any Illusion spells while you’re on the battlefield, just be sure that your skeletons are all healed up before rushing to the front line.
Crown of the False King: A boost to your troops' resilience? 'nuff said.
Master of the Mind: Medraut's troops may have been nothing but a dead-men walking, but that doesn't mean he cannot lead his troops the same as when they were alive.
Heavy Armour
Knights are always depicted as a fully armoured warrior that will lead his/her followers to glory. Medraut was one of them, to the point that magical attacks wouldn’t work against his natural aptitude and his knowledge on Heavy Armour.
Key Perks:
Face of the Dead: As a lord, Medraut will always don the most intricately designed armour without any helm to distinguish himself with the rest of his knights. Although during this time his troops are all nothing but a skeleton, he still used to this habit even in his second life.
Out of the Inferno: You will definitely need this skill since you’re in the front line along with your skeletal warriors, this is especially powerful against any mage enemy that tried to roast, shock, or freeze your troops for their own discretions.
Lead the Tempest (Optional): You already have Commanding Presence alongside the perks that will boost the armour ratings as well, but should you need an even more resilience buff for your troops, then be sure to pick this perk.
Smithing
Even though knights have squires to tend their armours, Medraut here learnt about how to smith in case he found his squires dead, and thanks to Movarth’s bite, he managed to craft an Ebony armour set.
Exotic Smithing (Crystalline): Medraut’s armour set is of an Ebony, so this is a must for our Death Knight
Enchanting
While he’s not much of a mage or even an enchanter, Medraut knows how to etch any of his corrupted spells into his blade and fling it towards the opponent whenever he swings harder.
Spellscribe: Again, a ‘nuff said perk to take, especially since Medraut will be in front.
SPELLS
In this build’s playstyle, I’ll be using a combination of both Triumvirate and Arcanum, Arcanum spells are rather rare among all to use so I kinda want to make a build based on this one mod in particular, there are other spell from other mods such as Lost Grimoire’s Store Corpse So, here are the spells that Medraut will use:
Weaken or Frailty (just for boosting your Illusion level and to soften your enemies)
Bile Blight (Your main offense against any undead, because sometimes undead and vampires are rather… Hissy against Medraut’s presence despite him being an undead too. It also creates a cloud of green mist which will damage any living being that happens to be near the target, so it’s really useful if you’re facing against a necromancer too)
Necrotic Ooze (Your main offense against any living being, this will boost you and your troops health regeneration and movement speed while also dealing damage per second towards the enemies, this is similar to having a Sacrifical Skull item in Warcraft 3 but on steroids, however, the boosts are indiscriminate, meaning that if you’re facing against undead enemies, they’ll get the same buffs too, so be careful)
Chorus of Woe (This will help you ‘resonates’ with your foes, literally. The spell will send a pulse that must hit an Undead unit, they will emit a 20-foot spectral shriek once they’re hit with it, damaging living units near them)
Fires of Undeath (Only pick this if you choose the other Reanimation-related perk, this will allow you to damage any enemies in front of you with Fire damage be it Undead or living, once they’re dead while they still under this spell’s effect, they are reanimated under your control. Similar to Forgotten Magic’s Warlock spell, but instead of needing a ring, you need to have an Expert level in Conjuration)
Store Corpse (This one’s a spell from Lost Grimoire and it’s pretty self-explanatory. Should you pick the Reanimaton branch in Conjuration, this will be a must pick, either this or Deadeye Captain from Apocalypse)
Aberrant Opus (Very, VERY optional spell. This will allow you to disintegrate the corpses to gain stackable magicka regen boosts, once you have 4 stacks, you will raise the next corpse and permanently increase ALL of their stats by 200 points and up to 400% bonus damage, luckily, it’s only for singular corpse so it won’t be THAT kind of OP. This also similar to one of the custom spells in Warcraft 3 or even a feature of one of the strategy games I used to play that basically allows you to promote a certain unit into an Elite or Heroic version of themselves by tributing a bunch of resources to it)
Army of Darkness (Very, VERY optional spell as well. This will allow you to raise ALL the corpses near you, but if you have a lot of Skeleton Warriors or Mages nears you instead, it will summon either Skeleton Warriors or Archers for them instead, again, this is similar to Warcraft 3’s Undead, but this one is more similar to Death Knight’s ult. Animate Dead instead of their items. Also, this will defo trigger Ebonarm boons against you, making your armour rating went down horribly should you choose Ebonarm as Medraut’s deity)
EQUIPMENTS AND VAMPIRIC POWERS
Knights are known as a defensive fighter, preferring a tactical yet devastating approach in combat rather than a practical and effective one, while most knights would simply adorn Steel Plate Armour nowadays, Medraut came from First Era and he lived throughout centuries to this day, so his armours would have been more intricate and practical thanks to his experiences throughout the ages, although for weapon, he’ll always choose his beloved Greatblade from his era to basically keep in touch with his humanity and while at it, etch a touch of vampirism to that blade for an extra attack power.
Also, this is the first time I’ve ever put a limit for equipment because Medraut is basically a Lord and Lords always looks the most dapper compared to his knights, I have actually made a list of armours (and mods) fitting for the Betrayed Lord.
Armours
There are three options for his armour:
Ebony Vampiric Armour set fromVampire Armour Expansion (minus the hood). This is my go-to armour for this build due to how it looked both aesthetically pleasing and also rugged at the same time, you can craft this armour by getting Ebony Smithing perk or getting it from any vampire levelled list once you’ve reached level 25+.
Heretic set from Heretic Armour (minus the helmet). This is one of the most badass looking armours for a damned knight, a bit fitting for him despite trading the regal features with badass-ness. You can get this whole set from Armoury in Volkihar Ruins once you’ve advanced through the Dawnguard/Volkihar Questlines or if you want to try your luck, you can hunt the whole set from any vampire den once you’ve reached level 37 or more.
Ebony Plate Armour or Spell Knight Armour (Ebony variant) from CC and/or Ebony Armour (again, minus the helmet). If you want a more simplistic yet aesthetic choice, these three would be a best choice for you, for Ebony Plate and Spell Knight, you better arm yourself for the tedious fights that awaits you before getting the whole set for yourself.
Arms
For weapons, I’ve decided to pick Vintage Steel Greatblade as Medraut’s main weapon, this blade looks the most aesthetically pleasing and regal IMO, it took Steel Smithing perk to get too, so it’s not really that tedious to level your Smithing skill (this mod also provided a Silver ‘variant’ of this blade, should you wish to pick that, it’s in Whiterun’s Catacomb).
If you want another alternative choice, might I recommend you with Skyrim Weapon Expansion, this mod also offers you an assortment of weapons (mostly swords) that you could choose and craft freely with the corresponding Smithing skills of course.
Artifacts
This part is more of a recommendation to tip the scale between you and your enemies should you struggle in the gameplay, I advise you to go with Ring of the Beast or Ring of Erudite from Dawnguard to boost either your health or magicka even further. If you got Imperious, pick Grail of Betony too for your stamina and magicka regen, also, if you got CC installed too, pick the Warlock’s Mark and Sovereign Band to compensate your Conjuration and to increase your mana pool if you wanted to try the other playstyle.
If not, then try making a Ring or Necklace of Stamina and/or Ring or Necklace of Remedy to boost your health regen and stamina pool (in case of getting ganked hard by the enemies and if you want to add more oomph to your power attacks)
Vampiric Powers
In this part, we’ll start to delve into what kind of vampiric power would the Betrayed Lord have, I got Sacrosanct installed for this and also, this is my first time ever to use Sacrosanct in my playthrough so do please give me a critique or two for the sake of getting a more balanced perks for the future build.
Well, with that out of the way, here are the key vampiric powers he would have and some recommendations from yours truly:
Blood Knight (This will allow Medraut to have a little snack in the middle of combat, this synchronize really well with Timed Block, which will be explained later on Gameplay section)
Potence (Since Medraut will only invest one perk point to Two-Handed Mastery, this is a go-to to increase Medraut’s attack power without making his troops obsolete)
Mytherceria (VERY Optional. This basically allow Medraut to basically get saving graces of night)
Masquerade (VERY VERY Optional. This is only for roleplay, being a vampire for centuries have made Medraut able to keep his starved-face in check)
Path of Humanity (Being a vampire for a long time have taught Medraut on how to keep him and the Beast in check)
King among Kine (Centuries of living too have taught Medraut on how to maintain his vampiric powers throughout time)
Psychic Vampire (Medraut’s bite will now deplete his foe’s whole magicka and stamina, resulting in their attacks grew useless against his armours and them facing Medraut at his terms)
Amaranth (Despite being a vampire, you bear hatred towards your new kin, this power gave you a chance to make them feel what you’ve been through and this too will make any lesser vampires run away in fear of facing the same fate as their slain kin)
Celerity (VERY VERY Optional. Should you get yourself in a pinch and wanting for more speed, you can choose this, but be careful, getting too fast wasn’t always a good choice)
Night Cloak (VERY Optional. Should you find Necrotic Ooze’s healing regen wasn’t enough, then be sure to pick this)
Companion
As you guys might've seen below, I got the armoured horse from CC content, specifically the Pale Mare with Steel Armour. This only serves as a roleplay and convenient purpose, namely due to how Vampires cannot regenerate stamina and one of my most favourite method of travel is by running around (and also, since in his backstory, Medraut depicted riding a horse before getting betrayed), so feel free to disregard this.
And so, I ride
SPECIAL MOVES
The Betrayed Lord Rises (Passive)
His wrath and experiences, alongside Ebonarm’s blessing turned him into a literal juggernaut of death, those that have allied themselves with Daedra like Harkon in particular won’t be able to defend themselves even if they want to. If they even tried to attack him, he can actually render their attacks useless against him
(Raven’s Harvest + Battle Weary + Break Upon Me)
Bone Chimes of the Hags
Whenever he swung his blade vigorously, Medraut also scribed a dark incantation that allows the spirits of Wyrd-Hags to wail through his troops, damaging all living enemies near him, essentially turning his troops into bone chimes, however, he’ll also send his troops to withdraw from Nirn, in case said incantation somehow damaged them
(Any Power Attack + Spellscribe (Chorus of Woe) + Old Stone + Make Way for Your Lord!)
Bloodied Retribution
“Your shield can also act as your blade” so does his master taught him and he followed that to his heart, even beyond death, that teaching is one of the things that keeps him in touch with his humanity, although he sometimes adds a more sadistic touch by actually throwing the enemy’s weapon down with a precise counter-attack
(Timed Block + Blood Knight + Bone Chimes of the Hags or Poke the Dragon (Optional) + Subjugate (Optional))
Order of the Damned
The memories of his training as a squire still lingers in his mind, while he is currently nothing but a vampire and his troops are a husk of their former selves, he can instil said memories to them through a more unorthodox method by combining his dark-infused charisma and his experiences in dark arts after being turned into a vampire and sometimes adding a little touch of Bretonnic hags ritual
(Conjure Altar + 2 Skeleton Warrior + 2 Skeleton Mage (pick any element of your choice, mine would be Fire) + Fire Ritual 2 or 3 times (Optional) + Commanding Presence + Crown of the False King + Master of the Mind + Lead the Tempest (Optional))
GAMEPLAY
Medraut’s playstyle is akin to knights, however he throws in arcane and unholy into the mix to dominate the battlefield. Whenever you’re going solo, you’ll want to have both Bloody Retribution triggered by letting them attacks you first, after that, you can now start wailing on them with Subjugate, Humiliate, and Breach the Wall should your enemy still retains a full health, once you’ve cleared the first rabble, collect their bones (or add it for your already bountiful bones for troops buff or for some ‘spare soldiers’) and activate Order of the Damned, be sure you have at least two warriors and two mages and if you have Fire Ritual, go ahead and start burning the bones for your troops buffs, if you want to, you can trade between having a few yet beefier troops with plethora amount of troops with an average stats troops by spamming E on your Altar (yep, I discovered some sort of a… Bug or something? Idk).
So, the ‘bug’ is, you can actually get a LOT of Skeleton even beyond your Magicka limit by basically spamming E while you’re at the altar (be sure to have a lot of skeleton parts in your inventory, because that still counts as a hard requirement), then choose which type of skeleton you’d want by your side the most (Personally, I either choose to fill my ranks with only one type to avoid friendly fire, particularly the mages for their ranged supports) and bounce on the E button like crazy style, dayo (sorry) and now, you’ll have a literal Legion of the Damned in your back AND you can level up your Conjuration even faster with this, just be sure your VGA is strong enough to withstand a bunch of skeletons moving around because holy… In my end, it actually made my laptop lagged.
Anway, back to the gameplay. Once you’ve mustered your troops (or legions), you can now go crazy with Bone Chimes of the Hags, if you got yourself the Legion of the Damned instead of the Order, be sure to equip Make Way for Your Lord! power to anticipate any friendly fire and fighting among your troops’ ranks, don’t forget to switch into casting Necrotic Ooze to heal your troops and increase their movement speed while damaging any living enemies that still left in front of you.
Should you and your troops facing any undead enemies, be very careful with the Bone Chimes and start using only normal attacks and Bile Blight to wither their health (just be sure to not shoot your troops with Bile Blight). If the said enemies were vampires, that’s where your Bloodied Retribution shows their true colours, start hunting them down once you’ve drained one of those fools to death, you’re basically going berserk and started to become their worst nightmare.
Also, yes. I still have OBIS Bandits and also their route updates installed, alongside AAE and the Lore Friendly Guns of Skyrim mods too, so basically I got my gameplay amped up (especially the staggers... God, the staggers from those pistols are crazy, but hey, it's rewarding for me and I have a LOT of fun running around the enemy while flinging my spells towards them :D)
CLOSING THOUGHTS AND CREDITS
First of all, I would like to apologize for this very lacking build here, I actually forgot to put the mod list, but you can see their names right here and there inside this build, second, the whole build is kinda messy, I was planning to upload it yesterday while doing it's finishing touch, but yeah, things happened so I gotta rush it today, so sorry for the whole mess here and there. For this build (and the majority of the build I've uploaded) layout, I would like to give a shoutout to Saronis, his build layouts are the most sorted ones IMO, so it kinda inspires me to make my build a bit tidier in one way or another (also, I tip my hat, from one Warcraft enjoyer to another). Second, I would like to give a shoutout to EnaiSiaion for giving such an awesome overhaul for Skyrim as a whole, noptasis for his Arcanum mods (man, I hope you're out there doing well. I would love to see someone actually continues his Arcanum project by expanding to Alteration too) and steelfeathers for his Lost Grimoire SSE and also for the rest of the mod makers that I can't mention right here but I already put a link in each of their own respective mod names, thank you so much for making this build possible
For this build, I took an inspiration from Warcraft's beloved pri- I mean KING Arthas, Camelot fantasy's treacherous knight Mordred (his name is Medraut in Welsh soooo yeah), and also, the rarely mentioned House Montclair AND the Purge of Wyrd-Hags, which is said to have left the Fortress that built right there haunted by the victims of the Purge (Also, seriously. House Montclair have a crazy backstory, even they got a Charge named after them! Man, I kinda wish they added a sprinkle of lore about this particular noble house, I love myself some noble-fallen-from-the-grace story). Also, I wanted to propose a new class to be added as a build category in this website, which is called Commander. They are akin to Knights with their affinity towards Illusion and Heavy Armour, however they added Conjuration magic to basically bolster their ranks albeit momentarily, coupled with their understanding in Alterations and Two-Handed to basically debuff their enemies even further and also a sprinkle of Destruction magic to basically support their conjured armies from afar in case of them almost getting routed. In short, it's this class, minus Smithing and Block and more magic than physical.
I do wish I could make another build later on, I have so many build waiting to be uploaded at the moment but yeah, IRL stuffs and all that (also I finally landed a job as a private tutor, so... Yippee).
Well, with all of that out of the way. Thank you so much for reading this build and also, thank you so much for accepting me in this community. Again, your critiques and advices are very valued for the future build development (a bit of hints for future build, it's all Warcraft-themed). This is Agni, signing out!
Replies
Well done Agni. Bone collector is always a fun line to go for in Ordinator. Love the "Vampiric Lord leading an army even beyond death" route you've taken. Very Lich King Arthas, very much my cup of tea. Kudos !
Yooo, thank you Saronis! Gotta say, when you mentioned that most of your builds are inspired by Warcraft 3, I went absolutely bonkers with any possible build ideas, you have my gratitude to ignite this Warcraft 3 inspired build ideas in my brain, Saronis.
Also, I LOVE your recent build! I actually forgot that sometimes, mages doesn't need to have 'elemental connections' with their spells (sans the lightning spell which could also be considered as pure Aetherius energy straight from thei rift made by the mages) and could actually go for a darker path instead of the good ol' knowledge path
Pssst, DM me on Discord if you want a little teaser on what is coming next ;)