Sneaky mage vampire?

Kezeal · October 2015

Greetings.
In previous Elder Scrolls games I've always enjoyed being the magic-fueled sneak I know many of us have been. In Morrowind and Oblivion this was mostly done with chameleon spells, but in Skyrim it was a full-blown sneak with the muffle spell. Unfortunately in this game the sneaking and magic paths seem to have separated into Nightblade and Sorcerer.
Seeing the fun spells of vampire in this game I decided to swallow the drawbacks(fire damage, ugliness past Stage 1 which only lasts for 30 minutes) to get the fun things, like the mist form(oh, how I love my shapeshifts). Then I saw the Dark Stalker skill and how well it works with a sneak build. But there's also a mana regeneration ability there. So I was confused, if the two paths are separate, why add both to the vampires? Can a mage be a sneak? Or can a sneak use magic?

For my second question, what race would be preferred? I'm not a min-maxer in the strictest sense, but I do enjoy watching those tiny numbers be on my side.
As my first character I will be a Dunmer(gf's choice, but it also seems to work well with fire resistance), but as a Breton-masterrace person, I was thinking of trying him out next. Their magic resistance would surely help and the extra maximum mana would probably be nice for a summon build(I read that summon power depends on max mana). My third choice would probably be an Altmer. I've disliked Altmers all the way up to Skyrim, where they suddenly turned from ugh-so-horrible to why-you-ruin-racials, thus making them fairly good. In ESO they are the strongest yet compared to all the other Elder Scrolls games. But they don't seem all that great as vampires, due to no racial to keep the fire weakness at bay. Is the extra magic damage worth it in any way? Even Dunmer have +fire damage.

Bretons get +6% spell resistance.
Dunmer get 32 fire resistance.
I read that +11 resistance = +1% resistance. Does that mean Bretons are actually protected more from fire than Dunmer?

MrDerrikk · October 2015

The Breton passive for reduce magic damage is pretty rubbish IMO, as the actual amount is tiny. I'm a Breton Sorc Vamp and a Dunmer DK Vamp so I have a little of the experience you are looking for. I feel that my Dunmer takes a whole lot less damage from fire than my Breton compared to other elemental attacks.

Nightblades are definitely focused for stealth, but depending on the weapons you'd want to use and a stam/magicka build you may be able to have a stealth Sorc and play it okay. The Stygian set would be perfect for what you are planning IMO. Well worth looking at for this unique style.

Kezeal · October 2015

MrDerrikk wrote: »

The Breton passive for reduce magic damage is pretty rubbish IMO, as the actual amount is tiny. I'm a Breton Sorc Vamp and a Dunmer DK Vamp so I have a little of the experience you are looking for. I feel that my Dunmer takes a whole lot less damage from fire than my Breton compared to other elemental attacks.

Nightblades are definitely focused for stealth, but depending on the weapons you'd want to use and a stam/magicka build you may be able to have a stealth Sorc and play it okay. The Stygian set would be perfect for what you are planning IMO. Well worth looking at for this unique style.

Does a sorcerer have any invisibility-like ability? Also, should I only stat one thing(like only magic or only stamina)? I read that hybrids are rubbish, I presumed it's the stat-placement.

MrDerrikk · October 2015

Kezeal wrote: »

Does a sorcerer have any invisibility-like ability? Also, should I only stat one thing(like only magic or only stamina)? I read that hybrids are rubbish, I presumed it's the stat-placement.

Sorcs don't have Invisibility (only nightblades do), but they do have the over-nerfed teleportation skill. If you are trying to go min/max, then hybrids are definitely not the way to go. It really depends on your style of play and what you like; I really like destro staffs even though they've been made mediocre in comparison to other weapons, but I still play them on my characters.

Kezeal · October 2015

MrDerrikk wrote: »

Kezeal wrote: »

Does a sorcerer have any invisibility-like ability? Also, should I only stat one thing(like only magic or only stamina)? I read that hybrids are rubbish, I presumed it's the stat-placement.

Sorcs don't have Invisibility (only nightblades do), but they do have the over-nerfed teleportation skill. If you are trying to go min/max, then hybrids are definitely not the way to go. It really depends on your style of play and what you like; I really like destro staffs even though they've been made mediocre in comparison to other weapons, but I still play them on my characters.

How well would a pure magicka vampire Sorcerer fare in PvP where there's a lot of stamina required for CC breaking and dodging?

Jitterbug · October 2015

The magicka sneak nightblade in this game is awesomely fun gameplay, although I am personally playing a stamina sneak sorcerer.

Kezeal · October 2015

Also, how well would a medium armor Sorcerer fare compared to a light armor one? I fail to see the practical purpose of a robe both aesthetically and functionally(does the power of the robe scale on the area of fabric on the item or something?).

edit: Looking at the vampire aesthetics, the Dunmer and Altmer seem to be the only two races that don't look like diseased rats when having vampirism. That's a bummer for my Breton dream.

Reeko · October 2015

Play Skyrim

MrDerrikk · October 2015

Kezeal wrote: »

Also, how well would a medium armor Sorcerer fare compared to a light armor one? I fail to see the practical purpose of a robe both aesthetically and functionally(does the power of the robe scale on the area of fabric on the item or something?).

edit: Looking at the vampire aesthetics, the Dunmer and Altmer seem to be the only two races that don't look like diseased rats when having vampirism. That's a bummer for my Breton dream.

Light armour gives passives that greatly increase your magicka skills (reduce cost, increase regen + crit etc), wheras medium is the same sort of things for stamina characters. Stygian isn't used often as it's made for hybrid builds, but if you're sold on a Breton Sorc Vamp sneak character, then you would probably like it.

Stam sorcs are in a pretty good place ATM like both nightblades.

Kezeal wrote: »

How well would a pure magicka vampire Sorcerer fare in PvP where there's a lot of stamina required for CC breaking and dodging?

I'm a pure magicka Vamp Sorc, and I do okay because nobody can roll-dodge and CC-break as much as they used to. The latter is unchanged, but with the recent changes to roll-dodging costs people seem to save them for when their most needed. Remember also that if you're a full stamina character, you'll be using the resource that you also use for abilities just for CC-breaking.

Kezeal · October 2015

How would a stamina sorcerer even work in theory? Wouldn't he run out of mana every second?

MrDerrikk · October 2015

Try looking at some of the Min/Max builds for Stam Sorcs. I like Deltia's builds myself, then amend them to my playstyle and much more limited time for grinding gear. They use a whole lot less magicka, and rely on a lot of weapon skills for stamina based combat.

Then again, he's just updated his "Frag Out" build Sorc which is the magicka one I based mine off.

Kezeal · October 2015

MrDerrikk wrote: »

Try looking at some of the Min/Max builds for Stam Sorcs. I like Deltia's builds myself, then amend them to my playstyle and much more limited time for grinding gear. They use a whole lot less magicka, and rely on a lot of weapon skills for stamina based combat.

Then again, he's just updated his "Frag Out" build Sorc which is the magicka one I based mine off.

Thank you! I don't know why it didn't occur to me to check some builds made by pros earlier. The Frag Out build may be exactly what I need. Vampire, sorcerer, magicka, learning curve.

MrDerrikk · October 2015

Kezeal wrote: »

Thank you! I don't know why it didn't occur to me to check some builds made by pros earlier. The Frag Out build may be exactly what I need. Vampire, sorcerer, magicka, learning curve.

All good man, you're bound to find a stealth/magic build around due to the huge amount of them. Although to be frank, it'd be a very unique style of play that would take some learning. I bid you luck in your endeavors!