Unarmed Brawler Build

[Jake]

This should be a very interesting build indeed. Shall we begin?

 

Race: Khajiit (Higher unarmed damage)

Sex: Male (Agent of Dibella means more melee damage to women. With this build, that's hilarious)

Level: 32

Health: 320

Magicka: 100

Stamina: 200

 

 

Now for perks:

 

As with my assassin build, we will need Necromage from...

 

RESTORATION

Novice Restoration (For Regeneration)

Regeneration (For Necromage)

Necromage (For the exploit)

 

Once again, I will be putting an asterik (*) next to any perks affected.

 

ARCHERY

Nope, don't need it.

 

HEAVY ARMOR

Juggernaut (1/5) (To unlock the rest of the tree)

Fists of Steel (More unarmed damage)*

Well Fitted (For Tower of Strength)

Tower of Strength (Stagger could ruin you in combat. Let's reduce it.)

Matching Set (For Reflect Blows)

Reflect Blows (Useful for close combat, which is your only method of fighting)

 

BLOCK

You can't block with your fists.

 

TWO HANDED

Your fists are not a greatsword.

 

ONE HANDED

Unfortunately, it seems perks from One Handed do not affect Unarmed. Such a shame.

 

SMITHING

Steel Smithing (To unlock the rest of the tree)

Arcane Blacksmith (To get that armor enchanted as soon as possible)

Dwarven Smithing (For Orcish Smithing)

Orcish Smithing (For Ebony Smithing)

Ebody Smithing (For Daedric Smithing)

Daedric Smithing (To make the highest damage gauntlets in the game)

 

LIGHT ARMOR

You've already spent perks in Heavy Armor.

 

SNEAK

Stealth (1/5) (This will give you a 20% increase to sneak, which is huge. Investing more points only gives a 5% increase, which isn't worth it, and the rest of the tree won't benefit you.)

 

LOCKPICKING

Worthless, as I've said.

 

PICKPOCKET

While Heavy Pockets* might be useful to make up for your armor weight, it isn't worth the perks. Maybe after you finish this build.

 

SPEECH

If you REALLY want to get into character, pick up Intimidation. Otherwise, skip this tree.

 

ALCHEMY

Alchemist (5/5) (For Alchemy/Smithing/Enchanting exploit)

Physician (For health potions)

Benefactor (For Alchemy/Smithing/Enchanting exploit)

 

ILLUSION/CONJURATION/DESTRUCTION

I'm just gonna get these out of the way. We won't be using magic, so there's no need for them.

 

RESTORATION

Covered at the top.

 

ALTERATION

While the build doesn't account for the perk spending, you can pick up the Magic Resistance perks if you want to. I would wait until the build is finished, though.

 

ENCHANTING

Enchanter (5/5) (For Alchemy/Smithing/Enchanting glitch, and unarmed enchantment)

Insightful Enchanter (For Alchemy/Smithing/Enchanting glitch, and unarmed enchantment)

Corpus Enchanter (For Extra Effect)

Extra Effect (Great perk that any build should get)

 

VAMPIRISM

Max it out. Hey, you're a vampire for this build; might as well make the most of it.

 

LYCANTHROPY

You don't need anything here. Once again, max it if you want to, but there's no point.

 

Now for equipment...

Head Piece: Daedric Helmet (Waterbreathing, Fortify Lockpicking)

Chest Piece: Daedric Armor (Fortify Health, Fortify Stamina)

Leg Piece: Daedric Boots (Muffle, Fortify Sneak)

Hand Piece: Daedric Gauntlets (Fortify Unarmed, Fortify Sneak)

Ring (w/ Dawnguard): Ring of the Beast

Ring (Vanilla game only): Silver Ring (Fortify Unarmed, Fortify Health)Amulet: Silver Necklace (Fortify Health, Fortify Stamina)

 

NOTE: I realize the enchantments on the helmet are crap. They are the most relevant you can place on it.

 

Now for Powers and Active Effects. I will put the ones I believe are most helpful, though you should obviously try to collect them all.

 

Dreak Cloak (Vampire Power)

Nightingale Strife (Reward from Darkness Returns)

Summon Spectral Assassin (Reward from Bound Until Death)

Agent of Dibella (Reward from The Heart of Dibella)

Agent of Mara (Reward from The Book of Love)

Claws (Khajiit racial bonus)

Dragon Infusion (Effect from Esbern's Potion, glitch makes this unobtainable, patch 1.09 should fix this)

Force Without Effect (Meditation of the Words of Power)

Sinderion's Serendipity (Reward from A Return To Your Roots)

 

And that's it. This should have you destroying enemies...with your fists. Enjoy!

[David]

Why am I an unarmed brawling vampire?

[Jake]

Why am I an unarmed brawling vampire?

Necromage affects Fists of Steel. Considering that very few perks increase unarmed damage, you need to get the most out of the ones that do.

[Blake]

ex: Male (Agent of Dibella means more melee damage to women. With this build, that's hilarious)

I'm not at all surprised to read this sentence.

 

Yeah looks good. I started an unarmed Brawler once, but got bored with it. It was a lot of fun early levels though.

[Jake]

I'm not at all surprised to read this sentence.

Nor I for this one.