Witchhunter

Breton - Crossbow - Heavy - Archer

Background

Witchhunters are people who have dedicated their lives to hunting down evil and witches, sorcerers, vampires, necromancers, or anything else that could bring harm to the world.

The build focuses on damaging Magicka to turn mages in robe wearing, dagger wielding warriors. It does this through a crossbow with both Absorb Magicka and Magicka Damage enchantments on it and the magnitude of these enchantments are boosted by Fortify Destruction potions. Additionally Lingering Magicka Damage poisons are used against any living enemies.

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Weapons

Use one handed until you get a longbow in Helgen. Buy a hunting bow from Alvor in Riverwood and and as many Iron Ingots as you can. Chop wood and sell it to Hod until you can buy all the Iron Ingots and then use it to make Iron Arrows. Make some leather strips at a tanning rack and improve the Hunting Bow on a grindstone. Then get an Ebony Crossbow as soon as you can. Exploding Shock bolts against mages and Exploding Fire Bolts against undead. Steel or Dwarven Bolts for other targets.

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Armor

Ebony Spell Knight Armor or any heavy on the way to getting it. I started with Imperial at Helgen by following Ralof. Then I crafted Steel Soldier once Steel Smithing was taken. Then Dwarven Plate when Dwarven Smithing was taken. I ignored Orcish Plate, as the next upgrade, and just waited for Ebony Smithing.

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Spells

Restoration for healing and circle of protection to use against undead or be a source or magicka regen when you have spell absorption. Utility spells from Alteration. Flame Atronach in the early levels before gaining spell absorption and Expel Daedra at higher levels from Conjuration.

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Standing Stones

The Lord Stone in the early levels and try to do the Book of Love quest early for 65% magic resistance. The quest is from the Temple of Mara in Riften. Once the Atronach perk is acquired switch to the Atronach Stone for 50% spell absorption, 50 magicka but -50% magicka regeneration.

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Shrines

Use a shrine of Talos for the 20% shout cooldown reduction.

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Shouts

Slow Time (Time - Sand - Eternity)

Location: Hag's End, Korvanjund (The Jagged Crown), Labyrinthian (The Staff of Magnus)

Slows time for you slightly but a lot for enemies. A very good shout to aid with hitting enemies from range as they are moving.

Unrelenting Force (Force - Balance - Push)

Location: Just follow the main story quests

Staggers enemies but it's replaced by Cyclone.

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 Breton

Bretons make a very good choice here due to their proficiency with magic. Use a mage to kill a mage.

Pick 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.

You need to join the Dawnguard to get the ability to craft bolts regularly. You can buy them from the Fletcher in Solitude beforehand though. Remember you can reset vendors by doing a quicksave, attack them and then a quickload.

To quickly get the Ebony Crossbow head up to the Thalmor Embassy near Solitude and just before you get there on the left on the cliffs is a body with a crossbow and this also starts the quest. This then directs you to where you need to get into a locked basement of a ruined house guarded by 3 bandits. You should have put your first 2 perk points to get Novice and Apprentice Conjuration and have a Flame Atronach available to tank for you at this point.

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Attribute Distribution

Distribute attributes points at a ratio of 0/3/1. At level 62 which is required for all the perks the attributes are:

Magicka	Health	Stamina
100 (265)	560	250 (365)

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Perk Point Distribution

The skill boosts for Bretons are marked in bold.

Mage		Warrior		Rogue
Alteration +5	7	Archery	10	Alchemy +5	11
Conjuration +10	4	Block	0	Light Armor	0
Destruction	0	Heavy Armor	6	Lockpicking	0
Enchanting	8	One-handed	0	Pickpocket	0
Illusion +5	0	Smithing	4	Sneak	0
Restoration +5	9	Two-handed	0	Speech +5	2
Total	28	Total	20	Total	13

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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
Waterbreathing	Adept	Can breathe under water for 60 seconds.

Buy training to get Alteration to 50 so you can buy Waterbreathing from Tolfdir once you have completed the First Lesson at the College of Winterhold. You'll need Adept Alteration to be able to cast it without enchanted gear. Waterbreathing can be used to level Alteration to 100 by casting it while standing in water.

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Conjuration

Spell	Level	Description
Conjure Familiar	Novice	Summons a Familiar for 60 seconds wherever the caster is pointing
Flame Atronach	Apprentice	Summons a Flame Atronach for 60 seconds wherever the caster is pointing
Soul Trap	Apprentice	If a target dies within 60 seconds, fills a soul gem
Expel Daedra	Expert	Powerful summoned Daedra creatures are sent back to Oblivion

Conjure familiar can be used in the early game to help you in harder game difficulties. The same applies to Flame Atronach. Take Novice and Apprentice Conjuration as your first 2 perks. They will be redundant spells when you have spell absorption later in the build.

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Destruction

Spell	Level	Description
Unbounded Storms	Expert	Targets in melee range take 40 shock damage per second to Health, and half that to Magicka. Random lightning strikes deal an additional 30 damage

Unbounded Storms is purely used as a means to speed the levelling of Destruction by casting and using fast travel.

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Illusion

Spell	Level	Description
Courage	Novice	Target won't flee for 60 seconds, and gets some extra health and stamina.

Courage can be used to level illusion by casting it at an NPC.

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Restoration

Spell	Level	Description
Healing	Novice	Heals the caster 10 points per second
Healing Hands	Apprentice	Heals the target 10 points per second, but not undead, atronachs, or machines
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
Circle of Protection	Expert	Undead up to level 20 entering the circle will flee

Grand healing can only be cast once Expert Restoration is acquired. The same goes for Circle of Protection, which can be used as a limitless sources of Magicka if you have spell absorption.

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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

Bows do 300% more damage
Weapon uses no charges
Destruction spells cost no Magicka
Magicka regenerates 115% faster
Stamina regenerates 57% faster
Magicka and Stamina are increased by 115 points
Resist 37% of all magical effects

Item	Enchantment	Effect
Head	Fortify Archery	Bows do 75% more damage
	Fortify Destruction	Destruction spells and enchantments cost 46% less
Body	Fortify Magicka Regen	Magicka Regenerates 115% faster
	Fortify Destruction	Destruction spells and enchantments cost 46% less
Feet	Fortify Stamina	Stamina is increased by 115 points
	Fortify Stamina Regen	Stamina regenerates 57% faster
Hands	Fortify Archery	Bows do 75% more damage
	Fortify Magicka	Magicka is increased by 115 points
Amulet	Fortify Archery	Bows do 75% more damage
	Resist Magic	Resist 37% of magical effects
Ring	Fortify Archery	Bows do 75% more damage
	Fortify Destruction	Destruction spells and enchantments cost 46% less
Crossbow	Absorb Magicka	Absorb 46 points of magicka
	Damage Magicka	Damage magicka by 69 points

With Archery at 100 and Overdraw at 5/5 the crossbow does 321 damage. While wearing the enchanted armour the damage increases to 1294. With the Fortify Destruction potion running the Absorb Magicka raises from 46 to 143 points and the Magicka Damage raises from 69 to 215 points.

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	170 points for 60 seconds
	Restore Health	266 points restored

You can get all the Blue Mountain Flowers you need in Whiterun. The two farms to the east of Whiterun also get you all the Wheat you need.

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Potion of Fortify Destruction

Ingredients	Glowing Mushrooms, Snowberries & Steel-Blue Entoloma
Effects	Fortify Destruction	213% stronger for 60 seconds
	Resist Frost	128% for 60 seconds
	Resist Shock	128% for 60 seconds

All the Glowing Mushrooms you need are at the farm. Snowberries are around Windhelm in numbers. Steel-Blue Entoloma are from Khajiit caravan merchants.

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Poison of Lingering Damage Magicka

Ingredients	Purple Mountain Flower & Swamp Fungal Pod
Effects	Lingering Damage Magicka	43 points of damage for 10 seconds

Purple Mountain Flowers are found on the journey from Helgen to Riverwood. Swamp Fungal Pods are in the swamps around Morthal. There’s 2 near Folgunthur, 2 by the Apprentice Stone and 3 to the west of Movarth’s Lair by the fishing spot.

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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
6 x Glowing Mushrooms
7 x Snowberries
8 x Steel-Blue Entoloma
6 x Swamp Fungal Pods
5 x Wheat

Potions and Poisons Produced

42 x Potions of Forify Health
56 x Potions of Fortify Destruction
42 x Poisons of Lingering Damage Magicka

Main Area (27)

Ingredient	Qty	Harvest	Green Thumbs
Swamp Fungal Pod (3)	6	18 + 6 = 24	36 + 6 = 42
Purple Mountain Flower (3)	6	18 + 6 = 24	36 + 6 = 42
Snowberries (4)	7	28 + 7 = 35	56 + 7 = 63
Steel-Blue Entoloma (3)	8	24 + 8 = 32	48 + 8 = 56

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
Glowing Mushrooms (5)	6	30 + 6 = 36	60 + 6 = 66

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