Swashbuckler

Redguard - Sword - Clothing - Light - Spellsword - Warrior

Background

The swashbuckler embodies the concepts of daring and panache. Favoring agility and wit over brute force, the swashbuckler excels both in combat situations and social interactions, making them a versatile character indeed.

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Weapons

Any sword at the start of the game and then Cyrus' Sabre as soon as you can if you play with the Legacy of the Dragonborn mod. With this mod it adds 25% chance of a critical hit and a guaranteed stagger on hit. You can therefore stagger lock even enemies like dragons. Without the mod just keep it as an unechanted weapon.

To get Cyrus' Sabre go to the Winking Skeever in Solitude and read the book on a table called The Reckless. This will start the quest to go to Dead Man's Dread. Rush past the enemies enter the hip and head to the back room to get the sabre. With the sword always staggering enmies on every hit, including dragons, you can defeat higher level enemies if fighting one on one. Therefore fight in a doorway in the ship to limit enemy movement and to stop you getting overwhelmed.

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Armor

Leather Scout Armor as soon as you can and then when you have the quest to join the Dawnguard go to Fort Dawnguard and get the free light boots and gauntlets from the battlements. The Captains Clothes and a circlet completes the build but I didn't use these until I had my gear enchanted and Light Armor at 100 with Agile Defender at rank 5. With these I calculated the damage reduction as 61% with only the gauntlets and boots being armoured.

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Spells

Calm spells from Illusion, healing spells from Restoration and some utility spells from Alteration.

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Standing Stones

Take The Atronach Stone for 50% spell absorption, 50 Magicka but -50% Magicka regeneration when you have reached 100 Alteration and have the Atronach perk, which is a total of 80% spell absorption.

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Shrines

Use a Shrine of Talos for the 20% reduction to shout cooldowns.

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Dragon Shouts

Become Ethereal (Fade - Spirit - Bind)

Location: Ironbind Barrow, Lost Valley Redoubt, Ustengrav (The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller)

Gives you a short duration of invulnerability, which can be used to cast Harmony which is a massive AoE calm spell.

Unrelenting Force (Force - Balance - Push)

Location: Just follow the main story quests.

Can be used to stagger enemies but never needed it as the sabre does this.

Whirlwind Sprint (Whirlwind - Fury - Tempest)

Location: Dead Men’s Respite, Volskygge, High Hrothgar (The Way of the Voice)

Use to reach otherwise inaccessible places and to quickly evade attacks or catch up with fleeing enemies.

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Character Creation

Female Redguard

High Elf does come out with 25/35 skill points boosted in the build with Breton, Dark Elf, Imperial and Redguard coming out with 20/35. Redguard seem a good fit for the build with Cyrus the famous corsair being a Redguard.

IPick female as the sex for your character as there are more male humanoids than females to fight in Skyrim so the 10% damage bonus against the opposite sex from Agent of Dibella gets more use.

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Attribute Distribution

Place the first 5 attribute points into Magicka and then at 0 / 3 / 1. At level 58 which is required for all the perks the attributes are:

Magicka	Health	Stamina
100 (150)	530 (645)	240 (355)

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Perk Point Distribution

The skill boosts for Redguards are marked in bold.

Mage		Warrior		Rogue
Alteration +5	8	Archery +5	0	Alchemy	7
Conjuration	0	Block +5	0	Light Armor	5
Destruction +5	0	Heavy Armor	0	Lockpicking	0
Enchanting	8	One-handed +10	7	Pickpocket	0
Illusion	10	Smithing +5	4	Sneak	0
Restoration	8	Two-handed	0	Speech	0
Total	35	Total	11	Total	12

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Skills and Perks

Mage Skills

Warrior Skills

Rogue Skills

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Spells

Alteration

Spell	Level	Description
Candlelight	Novice	Creates a hovering light that lasts for 60 seconds
Detect Life	Adept	Nearby living creatures, but not undead, machines or daedra, can be seen through walls

From the Bow of Shadows quest that you get from the steward in Dragonsreach you can get the Detect Life spell book at the stables once you have read the ledger in Acradia's Cauldron. Cast this in the market during the day to level Alteration.

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Conjuration

Spell	Level	Description
Soul Trap	Apprentice	If a target dies within 60 seconds, fills a soul gem

Soul Trap is used to fill soul gems but with farming and the money you make from selling potions you can just buy filled soul gems.

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Destruction

Spell	Level	Description
Flames	Novice	A gout of fire that does 8 points per second. Targets on fire take extra damage

Destruction isn't needed in this build.

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Illusion

Spell	Level	Description
Courage	Novice	Target won't flee for 60 seconds, and gets some extra health and stamina.
Calm	Apprentice	Creatures and people up to level 9 won’t fight for 30 seconds.
Pacify	Expert	Creatures and people up to level 20 won’t fight for 60 seconds.
Harmony	Master	Creatures and people up to level 25 won’t fight for 60 seconds.

Courage is used to to initially advance Illusion. It can be used on normally passive animals to make them attack you, doing minimum damage, which helps levels your armour skills in the early game. The calm spells are then used on agressive enemies to make then passive leaving you free to attack them.

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Restoration

Spell	Level	Description
Healing	Novice	Heals the caster 10 points per second
Fast Healing	Apprentice	Heals caster by 50 points
Close Wounds	Adept	Heals caster by 100 points
Grand Healing	Expert	Heals everyone close to the caster 200 points. Does not affect atronachs, machines or undead

Restoration spells are used out of combat to heal yourself and also replenish your stamina.

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Enchantments

The effects listed below are based upon 100 Enchanting skill, all the enchanting perks in the build and with a set of enchanted crafting gear. Read my guide on making crafting gear if you are not familiar with it.

Summary of combined effects

One-handed weapons do 305% more damage
Illusion spells costs 92% less magicka
Restoration spells costs 46% less magicka
Health and Stamina are increased by 115
Magicka regenerates 115% faster
Increases Light Armor skill by 46 points
Resist 37% of all magic

Item	Enchantment	Effect
Head	Fortify Illusion	Illusion spells and enchantments cost 46% less
	Fortify Restoration	Restoration spells and enchantments cost 46% less
Body	Fortify Health	Increases Health by 115 points
	Fortify Magicka Regen	Magicka regenerates 115% faster
Feet	Fortify One-handed	One-handed attacks do 75% more damage
	Fortify Stamina	Increases Stamina by 115 points
Hands	Fortify One-handed	One-handed attacks do 75% more damage
	Fortify Illusion	Illusion spells and enchantments cost 46% less
Amulet	Fortify One-handed	One-handed attacks do 75% more damage
	Resist Magic	Grants 37% resistance to all magic
Ring	Fortify One-handed	One-handed attacks do 75% more damage
	Resist Magic	Grants 37% resistance to all magic

With the Sallowed Regent Black Book the magnitude of all enchantments can be increased.

Please note that Black Books can only be used on Solstheim.

The magnitude of the enchantments can be further increased by equipping 4 pieces of Azhidal's gear.

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Alchemy

All the details for the potions and poisons are based on having all the listed alchemy perks, Alchemy at 100 and a set of crafting gear.

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Potion of Fortify Health

Ingredients	Blue Mountain Flower & Wheat
Effects	Fortify Health	140 points for 60 seconds
	Restore Health	266 points restored

All of the ingredients can be found in or around Whiterun.

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Potion of Fortify Carry Weight

Ingredients	Mora Tapinella, Scaly Pholiota & Steel-Blue Entoloma
Effects	Fortify Carry Weight	Carry 170 more weight for 300 seconds
	Regenerate Stamina	Stamina regenerates 213% faster for 300 seconds
	Fortify Illusion	Illusion spells are 170% stronger for 60 seconds
	Restore Magicka	266 points restored

Mora Tapinella are on the route from Helgen to Whiterun. There’s a lot of Scaly Pholiota to the south of Ivarstead and around Riften. Steel-Blue Entoloma are from Khajiit caravan merchants.

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Potion of Fortify Barter

Ingredients	Dragon's Tongue & Tundra Cotton
Effects	Fortify Barter	43% better prices for 15 seconds

You can get the ingredients in Whiterun.

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Potion of Fortify Enchanting

Ingredients	Dreugh Wax/Stoneflower Petals & Snowberries
Effects	Fortify Enchanting	85% stronger for 30 seconds

Dreugh Wax and Stoneflower Petals are only available from Khajiit caravans. Some travel between Whiterun and Markarth. Snowberries are abundant near Windhelm.

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Potion of Fortify Smithing

Ingredients	Dreugh Wax/Gold Kanet & Glowing Mushrooms
Effects	Fortify Smithing	213% stronger for 30 seconds

Dreugh Wax and Gold Kanet are only available from Khajiit caravans. Some travel between Whiterun and Markarth. Glowing Mushrooms are in Falmer caves.

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Farming

For more information on getting to and setting up your farm read my guide.

Ingredients Needed

6 x Blue Mountain Flower
3 x Dragon's Tongue
10 x Mora Tapinella
7 x Scaly Philiota
10 x Steel-Blue Entoloma
3 x Tundra Cotton
5 x Wheat

Potions and Poisons Produced

24 x Potions of Forify Health
40 x Potions of Stamina Regeneration
12 x Potions of Forify Barter

Main Area (27)

Ingredient	Qty	Harvest	Green Thumbs
Mora Tapinella (3)	10	30 + 10 = 40	60 = 10 = 70
Scaly Pholiota (5)	7	35 + 7 = 42	70 + 7 = 77
Steel-Blue Entoloma (3)	10	30 + 10 = 40	60 = 10 = 70

Side Area (11)

Ingredient	Qty	Harvest	Green Thumbs
Blue Mountain Flowers (3)	6	18 + 6 = 24	36 + 6 = 44
Wheat (4)	5	20 + 5 = 25	40 + 5 = 45

Planters (6)

Ingredient	Qty	Harvest	Green Thumbs
Dragon’s Tongue (4)	3	12 + 3 = 15	24 + 3 = 27
Tundra Cotton (3)	3	9 + 3 = 12	18 + 3 = 21

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