Since I have an inadvertent double post here, might as well make it useful.
I just completed the Hitting the Books quest for the College of Winterhold (or rather, just finished clearing out Felglow Keep, I still need to head back to the College).
My character Alis' build is finally coming into her own. What did it was adding Alteration to the mix, ditching Destruction entirely, and snagging Calm. Well, that and spending an hour acquiring the materials to swap my frost axe for an identical one but with fire damage. Too many things with frost resistances. Naturally, the very next place I go has Fire Atronochs. :lol
I enter the Keep, and right away a mage sends his two pet spiders after me. I tag one with Fury, and he turns on his buddy; his owner kills it. Repeat with the second one. I charge around the corner and up the stairs and hit the mage with Calm - he chills out instantly and goes about his business, ignoring me. That gives me the chance to cast Oakflesh to gird up, the swap to my shield. I smack the guy a couple times from behind, and as he turns around blast him with level 2 Unrelenting force. A few more blows and just as he's recovering I toss in a shield bash and finish him off while he's staggering.
The middle of the dungeon erupts in anarchy once I release all the prisoners - all hell breaks loose, with wolves, vampires and sorcerers all over the place. I toss Fury onto some of the sorcerers and then it really hits the fan. I roam around helping all three sides get whittled down evenly, seldom engaged directly. Next up is a training room, where I use Muffle to sneak up silently, then Fury on two of the three fire mages, causing a flaming brawl to break out. I step in as the last two are duking it out and finish each with one blow.
The next area has mages and tombs with Skeletons emerging; I hit the mages with Fury and they mop up the Skeletons, then turn on each other. I toss on Oakflesh and head in for mop up duty.
Much of the dungeon plays out this way, until the final boss who reminded me of the bosses in Deus Ex: Human Revolution: a powerful enemy (actually, several) dumped out in the middle of an open room. My build wasn't made for this kind of thing so it took a good dozen attempts to put her down.
Still, I feel like my character is over the hump (now at level 18) of Master Difficulty. I still die often and have to be careful, but the more methodical I am with my mix of spells and abilities, the better I do. Very satisfying to see a build I'd had conceptualized for a few weeks start to come together this well.
I've decided to do the main quest and College with this character, and some side quests. Then my brawler will go through the Companions and Civil War (as an Imperial) quest lines. That will hit my three desired builds: sneaky archer, tricky battle mage, and heavy muscle.
I'll get more play time out of Skyrim than from any other game I've owned. Insanity.
I just completed the Hitting the Books quest for the College of Winterhold (or rather, just finished clearing out Felglow Keep, I still need to head back to the College).
My character Alis' build is finally coming into her own. What did it was adding Alteration to the mix, ditching Destruction entirely, and snagging Calm. Well, that and spending an hour acquiring the materials to swap my frost axe for an identical one but with fire damage. Too many things with frost resistances. Naturally, the very next place I go has Fire Atronochs. :lol
I enter the Keep, and right away a mage sends his two pet spiders after me. I tag one with Fury, and he turns on his buddy; his owner kills it. Repeat with the second one. I charge around the corner and up the stairs and hit the mage with Calm - he chills out instantly and goes about his business, ignoring me. That gives me the chance to cast Oakflesh to gird up, the swap to my shield. I smack the guy a couple times from behind, and as he turns around blast him with level 2 Unrelenting force. A few more blows and just as he's recovering I toss in a shield bash and finish him off while he's staggering.
The middle of the dungeon erupts in anarchy once I release all the prisoners - all hell breaks loose, with wolves, vampires and sorcerers all over the place. I toss Fury onto some of the sorcerers and then it really hits the fan. I roam around helping all three sides get whittled down evenly, seldom engaged directly. Next up is a training room, where I use Muffle to sneak up silently, then Fury on two of the three fire mages, causing a flaming brawl to break out. I step in as the last two are duking it out and finish each with one blow.
The next area has mages and tombs with Skeletons emerging; I hit the mages with Fury and they mop up the Skeletons, then turn on each other. I toss on Oakflesh and head in for mop up duty.
Much of the dungeon plays out this way, until the final boss who reminded me of the bosses in Deus Ex: Human Revolution: a powerful enemy (actually, several) dumped out in the middle of an open room. My build wasn't made for this kind of thing so it took a good dozen attempts to put her down.
Still, I feel like my character is over the hump (now at level 18) of Master Difficulty. I still die often and have to be careful, but the more methodical I am with my mix of spells and abilities, the better I do. Very satisfying to see a build I'd had conceptualized for a few weeks start to come together this well.
I've decided to do the main quest and College with this character, and some side quests. Then my brawler will go through the Companions and Civil War (as an Imperial) quest lines. That will hit my three desired builds: sneaky archer, tricky battle mage, and heavy muscle.
I'll get more play time out of Skyrim than from any other game I've owned. Insanity.
!
