I just got the game and would like my first character to be a shadow or death knight. I love the character in Dungeons and Dragons and played a shadow knight in Everquest and a death knight in World of Warcraft. I want to not lean so much toward the World of Warcraft type-based death knights and go more toward the dnd and EQ versions. If anyone could give me help on setting up perks for a 2h build I would appreciate it. I know I should go into 2h, Heavy Armor, Conjuration, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Illusion (for fear spells) but I's not sure what to go into after that.

Sounds pretty solid. Have you considered becoming a vampire?

Is this Davok from Kael'Thas (WoW)?? Sorry to be off topic, but your name jumped out to me.

Sorry no I'm not from that server . I played on Anvilmar.

The thought crossed my mind a time or two. I'm not exactly sure how difficult it is being a vampire. I know I want to be a nord for the 2h perk if it fits the rpg aspect of a death knight.

holy crap i was just thinking about this today, i want to make a shadowknight based off the eq shadowknight, or dnd blackguard

my thought would be

primary:
two-handed
heavy armor
conjuration(focused on necro type spells)
illusion(fear/frenzy lines and invis)

secondary:
archery
sneak
destruction(maybe?)
block(maybe... i dont know how the perks affect blocking with 2h weps)

in any case this would be where i would start, all of the crafting skills would be beneficial to this build i would think. as far as race is concerned i would play a dark elf or an orc(since the obviously superior troll isnt an option in tamriel /grin). again i must say its crazy this thread popped up cuz i was just thinking about this today

I have this so far but Im not sure if Im going the right way or what else I should be picking up. What do you think? http://skyrimcalculator.com210508. Need to put a forward slash before the numbers to copy and paste.

I think I have a good idea of what I want to do with just a couple of small details. Using two-handed, heavy armor, conjuration (undead), illusion (fear), alteration (armor boost), block, blacksmithing, enchanting. My only detail with my nord or imperial shadow knight is the harm touch they have. I'm not sure how to incorporate it into the build. Ive thought of using some of the restoration tree but I think that isn't really very death knight but I'm not sure.

As a suggestion I'd say use the Bound Battleaxe, then you can have Frenzy and Fear spells equipped and use them easily before summoning up the Battleaxe, so you're switching to another spell instead of switching to a weapon, which with the Silent Casting perk in the Illusion tree wouldn't cause enemies to detect you, so you could continue to sneak. Also since you'll be using Enchanting, the perk in Conjuration that creates a permanent Soul Trap enchantment on the Bound Weapons will be very handy for filling up Soul Gems and leveling up Enchanting.

This would create something like this I'd imagine:

Primary -

Illusion - Fear, Frenzy (Muffle / Invisibility too perhaps)
Conjuration - Bound Battleaxe, Atronachs
Two Handed
Enchanting

Secondary -

Heavy Armour - Won't need a vast amount of perks alongside Enchanting
Smithing - Ebony or Daedric?
Sneak - Simply the left side of perks.

Then just focus on any additional skills after if need be, like Alteration for Detect Life/Dead and Paralyze perhaps.

As a small side note another reason for suggesting Bound Battleaxe is that it doesn't break immersion, whereas switching between spells and any other two-handed weapon causes the two-handed weapon in question to disappear entirely, as it can't simply be sheathed with spells equipped.

You may want to toss in destruction purely for the rune spells, speciffically the frost one. In previous titles I would say using a touch spell in destruction (again frost/ice), but since they have mysteriously dissapeared it isnt an option (I could be mistaken as I have not played a mage type character or done any real research on availible spells in Skyrim). Stay away from ranged destruction spells.

This is what my 2nd semi-serious character did and I had a blast.

If you choose not to it won't make or break you though. What you have picked will def work.


Edit: Meant rune spells not ward spells...Derp

It's a great idea and I had one on my PS3 game. Here are a few ideas for you:
2h: increase damage, lower stamina costs, great crit charge, sweep
Heavy Armor: 5/5 and I think all the other perks are a waste except matching set.
Conj: novice-master, necro branch and atronach branch, dual cast
Illusion: novice-master, and both branches up to master of the mind for more potent spells, dual cast

Enchanting: straight up the middle branch to double enchants
Smithing: heavy branch to daedric/dragon
Destruction: your ranged attacks if you want to pick it up, I'd go with frost spells/perks and not pick up the master perk, perk grab impact. You'll only cast destro on dragons in flight really.

Ritual stone.


I suggest atronach summons to open with until you have undead thralls. Frost atronach fits the theme. Since you'll spend most of combat with your weapon in hand, make sure to dual cast conjuration and illusion spells so they're more powerful. You can choose when/how/if you want to Impact enemies w/ dual cast destruction spells.

Ancient nord armor. Honed ancient nord weapon.
Not sure which one between dragon or daedric perks for smithing, one of them does.

Ring of Namira.

Ice Form and Frost Breath shouts.

Frost damage or Paralyze, and Absorb Stamina on weapon.

I'd open with fear/frenzy, atronach until you've got thralls, then crack skulls.

Which destruction spells best fit a dnd/eq style shadow knight/death knight frost, fire, or shock?

You should consider using ebony mail after you hit level 30. It has a nice poison effect. It is a deadric artifact and it helps you sneak in heavy armour.