Character Concept Help - Elven Swordmaster

jellmoo

Hi all,

I'm still pretty new to the game, and whilst I am enjoying it (mostly taking the time to play with classes, races, weapons and skills and see how they work), I'd like to dig in and get going on my character concept.

I'm mostly looking for advice on how not to completely bone myself, rather than a sort of uber build. I'd like to make my character work, more than really min/max the thing.

If any of you have played Warhammer Online, then the concept of an Elven Swordmaster should be pretty recognizable. That's the sort of character I'm looking to put together. If you're not familiar, it's still pretty straight forward. Basically an Elf with a great big honkin' sword, wearing lighter than heavy armor.

So I was hoping to get a little advice on how to really flesh this out. I've read some guides so far, but they seem to deal more with class and role than with concept. Really, any advice is welcome!

What I have so far:

Race: High Elf or Dark Elf
Class: Narrowed down to either Dragon Knight or Nightblade. I've tried out both the Templar and the Sorcerer, and they don't seem quite right for the build I have in my head.
Weapon: 2 Handed
Armor: Some combo of light, medium, heavy that stays away from the "full plate" look. I'm honestly not sure what the good breakdown is for a melee centric character.
Playstyle: Looking for something with a fair bit of mobility in attacks, and while this may sound a little silly, with a bit of "grace" about them. Doesn't need to be top dog in the DPS world, but a fair bit of damage and survivability would be nice.

At the end of the day, I'm trying to make something cool and fun. Any advice is welcome, from class selection, to specific skills, to how to split stats, to any attacks you think look great!

Thanks a lot everyone!

Tadhg_Longhouse

I would be looking at NB for your class. They have a kind of shadow dancer feel to them that seems to meet your playstyle. Mostly medium armor for the melee crit and movement speed passives. I'd say more but I am on mobile.

Darrett

Swordmasters wear scale, which is heavy armor. I'd go 2H Dragonknight. Doesn't particularly have the graceful attacks you're looking for, but the Nightblade is more of a Shadow Warrior type. Not really fitting the bill.

Edit- If you really want, wear a light armor chest piece for the robe look. Add in a light belt or gloves for your second light piece to boost your magicka-based abilities.

Turial

Guys above make good points, I would suggest if you are going Dunmer then Dualwield 2 swords as a DK would be pretty fun. Going with medium armor you will be stamina based most likely so focus on upping that with the stamina based skills. NB also has siphon abilities so 2 piece light armor would be a good idea if you want to try balance some magic attacks in there too.

Tadhg_Longhouse

Ok I'm at my PC now so I'll elaborate.

Having read the other comments I am still sticking to my guns. NB might be a shadow warrior, but if you choose your abilities right it should come off more like a swordmaster.

The main class skill you'll want is haste, which unfortunately you'll need to unlock from the end of the assassination tree. Keeping this activated should make you look like you're swinging a greatsword with ease and the stamina regen morph will make your weapon abilities available more often. Beyond that you'd probably consider strife for survivability and maybe blur.

Most of the abilities you'd want to use would be your weapon skills though so you'd want to focus on stamina. Uppercut and critical charge work together well to keep your target off balance and you could mix things up with reverse slash when you are low on health and cleave for aoe. Momentum could go with haste on a second bar to let pop before battle (or every 20 seconds) so you can keep all your damage abilities on you main bar.

Armor-wise, if you go 5 medium you will get an attack speed boost along with the other passives such as stamina regen and crit damage. With this spec you probably wouldn't need magicka at all so you'd probably want to avoid light armor. Perhaps just get heavy legs and chest to give a slightly shiny look?

Anyway that's my thoughts. I hope it helps.

RazzPitazz

The race will depend on the class. If you choose DK go Dunmer, if you choose NB go Bosmer. I think.

jellmoo

Hi all,

Thanks so much for the great advice! I think I've worked it out to a High Elf Nightblade. The Dragon Knight has some pretty cool abilities (who hasn't said "Get Over Here" at least once whilst playing one?), but the abilities don't help too much in mimicking the Swordmaster vibe I'm looking for.

I've tried to piece together a set of abilities I think could replicate the concept a bit. It's a bit heavy on weapon attacks, but I think it could be fun. I'd appreciate any advice on it, especially if anyone thinks I am gimping myself.

goo.gl/tjA0Ba

A friend of mine suggested I take another look at the Sorcerer as he seems to think it could work. I'm a little skeptical at the survivability of it, especially if I don't use pets. I don't suppose anyone has tried a two handed, petless Sorcerer?

Thanks!

Tadhg_Longhouse

It can be quite viable. But nothing like a swordmaster. Use critical surge with critical charge (always crits) for regular healing. Thundering presence keeps your spell resist and armor up. Encase to cc melee while you take out casters. Bound armaments if you want to do extra heavy attack damage.

You would want to make it a stamina build though.

Turial

I don't particularly like using the pets on my sorc right now but who knows, I might later. You could get the extra crits from the sorc line also, that might help but if you are going for a particular style I think NB is your better choice, did not play WH:O so I hope my thoughts are helpful anyway.

jellmoo

Yeah, I can't really see how the Sorcerer works for the concept, but it was at least interesting food for thought. The NB does seem like the best bet right now, but I think what I'll do is make both a NB and a DK, get to like level 10 or something, and see which one feels right.

I think I'll leave the Sorcerer for the archer character I want to try.