The Thunderous Destroyer
The Thunderous Destroyer is the embodiment of the saying "the best defense is a good offense." Armed with thunder, steel, and arrows, it is a sturdy fighter capable of inflicting massive amounts of damage while effortlessly staying alive.The focus of this build is to inflict critical damage to your enemies while keeping Critical Surge up so that every time you crit, you get 65% of the damage as health. Your main source of damage is stamina, but don't be afraid to increase magicka for some useful Sorcerer skills. The best race selection would be any that is stamina-oriented, such as the Redguard or the Imperial, but choose the race/alliance you're most comfortable with.
STATS AND EQUIPMENT
Magicka (0), Health (58), Stamina (0)I put all my attribute points in Health for maximum survivability, so the main source of stamina for this build lies in armor enchantments. With regular glyphs and the Infused trait on the head, chest, and legs, I kill my enemies before I run out of stamina or magicka.
Since this build focuses on critical damage and stamina, seven pieces of medium armor are a must. To get a high critical rate, you should choose the Shadow Mundus Stone and wear four pieces of the Night Mother's set along with four pieces of the Hunding's Rage set for a 16% weapon crit bonus. Make sure to have the Infused trait on the helm, chest, and legs to give you some extra stamina; the rest should use Divines. This combination, along with the Precise trait on both weapons and the bow passive skill, Accuracy, should get your weapon critical rate around 55-60%. With the Exploitation passive from the Dark Magic tree, your critical rate should reach as high as 70-75% against enemies affected by Dark Magic.
My jewelry is made of simple rings/necklaces with the Robust trait, which are enchanted with two stamina recovery glyphs and one armor glyph, granting me a little over 30 stamina recovery and more than 600 armor. It is also viable to switch one of those stamina recovery enchantments for either spell resist or health recovery.
PRIMARY BAR
Two-Handed – Single-Target DamageThis bar is dedicated to single-target damage. It's intended to dish out as much damage as possible, taking advantage of the critical strike chance and the heal from Critical Surge to stay unscathed by even the heaviest blows.
Surge (Critical Surge) – This skill is the backbone of this build. Not only does it boost your weapon damage by a high amount (way over the soft cap), it also heals you for 65% of the damage done at level four. Be sure to keep it on at all times.
Critical Charge (Critical Rush) – This skill is a perfect gap closer. It burns through your stamina, leaving your magicka for when you really need it, and always lands a critical hit—which means it will always heal you for 65% of the damage done.
Uppercut (Dizzying Swing) – The main source of damage in this bar. If you land a critical hit for 700 damage (a conservative estimate), it's not only going to knock the enemy back four meters—allowing you to follow up with a Critical Rush—but it will also heal you for 455 damage. I use Dizzying Swing so that my character will take less damage, but Wrecking Blow is just as good. Keep in mind that the attack bonus will not apply to Wrecking Blow.
Reverse Slash (Executioner) – A quick source of damage since it does not have the one-second casting time. It's extremely useful against low-health enemies, as its damage can stack up to 300% based on target's health loss, and another 18% on any Two-Handed weapon skill versus targets under 25% health if you keep it slotted.
Encase (Shattering Prison) – It's important to always have a Dark Magic skill slotted so you can gain that extra 15% critical chance from the Exploitation passive. I chose Shattering Prison since it gives me some crowd control and has an instant cast time. Be sure to throw it at a low-health target before you use Executioner to have a near-certain critical hit that will not only ravage your opponent, but also give you a major heal. Rune Prison (Weakening Prison) is also a viable option; it doesn't cost much Magicka, but keep in mind that it has a 1.5-second cast time.
ULTIMATE: Summon Storm Atronach (Greater Storm Atronach) – It's a cheap AoE Ultimate that stuns enemies for a short time, keeps aggro off you, and has good damage and a decent duration. Plus, with the Daedric Protection passive from the Daedric Summoning tree, having any Summoning ability slotted gives you 20% health regeneration.
SECONDARY BAR
Bow – AOE DamageThis bar is focused on rapidly dealing damage to mobs that are close to each other while keeping your health bar up and going. This has saved me on multiple occasions, fully healing me in a matter of seconds. Don't forget to land a sneak critical to make your job even easier.
Surge (Critical Surge) – Again, this skill should be active at all times because it boosts your weapon power and heals you every time you score a critical hit. Since you already have it in your other quickbar, you can drop it and put Boundless Storm (Lightning Storm morph in the Storm Calling skill tree) in its place for the extra armor and mobility bonus.
Encase (Shattering Prison) – This should be the first offensive skill you use. It keeps the enemies close enough to each other so that you can throw other AoE skills and hit them all at once. The magic damage you get from the morph is a good addition.
Volley (Arrow Barrage) – This should be used right after Shattering Prison since it has a short animation. It has a radius that should hit every enemy trapped by the Shattering Prison. Plus, it ticks every 0.5 seconds, and combined with the high critical rate and the bonus from the Exploitation passive, it is a steady source of damage to your enemies and an even steadier source of healing for yourself. Morph it to Arrow Barrage for an extended radius.
Arrow Spray (Bombard) – After the enemies are trapped on the ground and arrows are raining all over them, this is what you're going to use mercilessly. Position yourself so that you hit as many enemies as you can and fire away! Morph it to Bombard so that you can immobilize any enemy that gets away from your Shattering Prison.
Scatter Shot (Magnum Shot) – An emergency skill, saved for when you need to get out of the fight. Morph it to Magnum Shot for a very reliable gap opener. It can be dumped for Boundless Storm or even Snipe (Lethal Arrow).
ULTIMATE: Negate Magic (Suppression Field) – This ultimate should be used defensively for the very long stun. It gives you enough time to pop a potion, get a couple of regeneration ticks, retreat, and open fire once again.
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