The Dawnguard won't stand a chance against me.

Name: Sorin Markov
Race: Dunmer/Dark Elf

Primary skills: One Handed, Alteration, Conjuration (Necromancy/Bound Weapon branches)
Secondary skills: Restoration, Illusion

Perks at level 50: http://skyrimcalculator.com/#136578

This Spellsword build is quite similar to something I've done before and thoroughly enjoyed. For Dawnguard I wanted a battlemage build, but it just wasn't tickling my fancy, so I went with something tried and true.

The best part about this particular build is Alteration. First of all, there's the obvious high armor rating--up to 300, and I can reach the armor cap with Dragonhide if I so choose, but I left out Master Alteration because Ebonyflesh is enough for me. This is particularly useful because I can use both light and heavy armor that appeals to me--specifically the Nightingale set and the Ebony Mail--and throw an extra 100 points of protection on it so that I can stay competent on the battlefield. This appealed to me most, as those two particular armors would otherwise be mutually exclusive in use (if I specialized in light or heavy) and I want to use them both as well as robes (and stay protected in robes, for that matter). Apart from that, there's two very important benefits: magic resistance (up to 30%) and 30% spell absorption. As a Dunmer vampire, this sharply reduces my weakness to fire, and I can use the Atronach perk (spell absorption) freely even though I'm using Conjuration since I'll be using necromancy instead of atronmancy; I won't absorb my own spells. Beyond that, Alteration offers other obvious toys in the form of Water Breathing, Paralyze, and Telekinesis.

While Illusion is mostly obvious, I thought it would suit a vampire very well, not to mention that Frenzy and necromancy go hand in hand. Illusion also offers a stealth option, reducing the need for Sneak, especially since I don't find sneak attacks all that necessary with this build. As for weapons, I'll be using the Bound Sword spell almost exclusively, though I do plan on making use of the Nightingale Blade; its artwork and enchantments really suit the needs of a vampire, IMO, and recharging it will slowly increase my Enchanting skill, so double bonus there I'll use any other suitable enchanted weapons I come across, but I don't expect to see anything that's better than the Bound Sword. I can do fine with just three ranks of Armsman, so I'll just throw in the other two when I'm past level 50.

Restoration is another double bonus, providing great protection from shouts and spells, healing, more control over the undead, and the invaluable Necromage. I don't know if Necromage will increase the armor rating of Alteration spells (I certainly hope so), but it will at least increase the duration, which is great on its own. Then there are the rest of the obvious perks: Respite, Regeneration, and Recovery. I find Avoid Death extremely useful, and as a vampire, it reminds me a lot of the "undying" ability from Magic: The Gathering.

Necromage and the already-present vampiric abilities and bonuses just go so well together. With Illusion and the Sneak bonus, I think I'll be pretty well off. I've done this build before except without vampirism and necromancy; I can only imagine it gets better.

What kinds of builds are you other vampire lords making?

This is my Argonian Mage so far. I think he'll be the most effective of my chars for the actual Vampire Lord Form.
Name: Sasustha (http://www.skyrimcalculator.com/#136595) 230 Health/100 Stamina/520 Magicka Base (3/4 Levels into Magicka, 1/4 Levels into Health)
Race: Argonian (Vampire)
six: Male
Class: Mage
Equipment
Helm: Gold & Ruby Circlet (Fortify Magicka/Fortify Magicka Regen)
Armor: Archmage's Robes
Gloves: Thalmor Gloves (Fortify Magicka/Fortify Carry Weight)
Boots: Thalmor Boots (Fortify Carry Weight/Resist Fire)
Amulet: Gold Ruby Necklace (Fortify Magicka/Fortify Destruction)
Ring: Gold Diamond Ring (Fortify Magicka/Fortify Magicka Regen)

I got the impression that VL form will be completely separate from your usual stats, in which case your character build would not matter. Did i miss something?

Your Health/Stam/Magicka will likely carry over to Vampire Lord Form, just like Health/Stam do for Werewolf Form. There are certain perks that work in Werewolf Form too, so i assume those same perks will work in Vampire Lord Form. Avoid Death, Aspect of Terror, Recovery, Magic Resistance and Atronach should still work in Vampire Lord Form i think. Standing Stones like Lord, Lady, Atronach, and Apprentice should work as well.

Wow, very nice. Somebody certainly liked her Destruction, Alteration and Enchanting. How much total magicka do you end up with all that equipment? Your total after buffs must be impressive.


Nope, you're totally right. That doesn't mean that people won't have certain characters inspired by vampire lords (like myself), and that those who will join the vampires will, invariably, have their own character builds. And on top of that, while the vampire lord is its own form, "regular" vampires still get bonuses that we can make use of. Then there's also RP value

That too

Oh, okay. I did miss something then. In that case, my mage is probably better of in human form, where she can use healing spells. She only have 170 health, level 40ish.

I think you're forgetting something else: generally, a vampire's main form of attack is siphoning the life out of people. I'm sure you'll be fine, especially given the extra 50 health and the powerful spells vampire lords get

Besides, as a mage, surely you have great perks that will carry over and even spells you can use right before you transform that will last for some time

Am I the only one who will only use Magic while in Vampire Lord form? When I am a human I prefer to stay well fed and not use ANY magic and NEVER let anyone see my vampiric abilities for RP reasons.

I am going through with an Imperial woman that is an excellent archer. I am also having a lot of fun with daggers. I am perking Sneak and Archery right now. My next tree will either be Pick Pocket or Enchanting. It depends on how vampire weakness during the day will be handled with the expansion. If I still don't regen, I will enchant hardcoe regen into my things.

I kind of want to do something like that, but I can't see myself being a vampire that doesn't use magic whatsoever. I already have a hard time not using magic as it is xD But I commend you no less

I think Quest Perks like Agent of Mara, Agent of Dibella, Sailor's Repose and Dragon Infusion (Can only get it on PC through console menu/fix mod because of a bug) also work in Werewolf Form and Vampire Lord Form.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Agent_of_Mara
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Agent_of_Dibella
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Sailor%27s_Repose (Wonder if this will boost the life you gain from Life Leech/Vampiric Drain?)
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Infusion

I know Combined with the magic resistance perks and the Lord stone, I can reach 70% resistance! I'd be able to reach the cap as a Breton (total 95% magic resistance; no effect after 85%).

Right now I am thinking:
Race: Altmer
One-Handed
Destruction
Alteration
Illusion
Conjuration
Sneak (only if you can sneak in VL form)

I won't touch any other skills (besides speech because I will be buying/selling things) so Destruction stay viable w/o Impact.

Destruction, in my experience, is perfectly fine without Impact if you're using One Handed. It's pretty easy and fun to build a character around those two skills and Conjuration: just waltz into a room, kill the crap out of people, raise a zombie to help you continue killing the crap out of people, repeat. It's really potent.

You seem like you're spread pretty thin, though. Can you post your perks so I can get a better understanding of what you're doing?

Name: Felina
Race: fangs
six: Anatomically impaired vampire
Class: Throw stuff with my bare hands
Equipment: All naturale
Advantages: Likes to listen to classical music and to look at beautiful sunsets
Disadavantages: Need to use sunblock and has minor tourettes syndrome saying: [nasty word]] stake me all the time!
Minor Quirk: Was an alcoholic but can't hold the liquor anymore.
Life motto: every day under ground is a good day

I wonder what your playstyle is going to be like as a vampire lord, all things considered xD

Well, to be honest, it's going to be one hell of a turbelent experience

Anything you have planned, or are you just going to go crazy as soon as you become a vampire lord? I, for one, am holding off on some awesome quests, foremost of them being Diplomatic Immunity. I want the Thalmor to know what fear is.

Im going to do my build up to level ten and then just build my character up using the vampire lord so I don't use perks that could be useful in the future. Also does anyone know if the vampire claw/melee attack will depend on your 1 handed level and perks or will it be like the werewolf and just increase with your overall level.

Diplomatic Immunity I think i can dig that, and most likely that will be my playstyle. Going crazy but "having a badge"

My current character is arguably the strongest I've ever had, logged a good 120+ hours with him as of now. Breton named Hamelyn, level 61 at the moment, uses the steed stone (to save on 3 heavy armor perks).
Uses heavy armor, block, sneak, 1h, enchanting destruction, restoration and illusion. Just started branching out into 2h weapons, so perk progress is slow.

Only took the arcane and steel smithing perks, wears the ebony mail, daedric helmet (took me ages to find one), daedric gauntlets (again took me ages to find) and ebony boots (haven't found daedric boots yet).

Quite a mismatch of skills for one character, but now I've mastered most of them I can play a variety of roles. I could sneak kill enemies (ebony mail muffle, muffled boots and weightless armor), fight dual destruction, shield+destruction, destruction+1h, mace+shield or sword+dagger. Here's my perk setup if anyone's interested - http://skyrimcalculator.com/#136725 - I've just started perking the 2h tree.

Played as a vampire from the start, also master difficulty from the start. Never power levelled skills and apply some limitations to my high level character. No more than 500 armor rating with a shield, 430 or so without, 60% magic resist, also limit my one handed weapons to around 80 damage.

Enchanting was a must for an armor wearing destruction user that uses the ebony mail (the build was built around the mail), so I can have 80-90% reduction along with the perk.

He's pretty evil, strong psychopathic behaviour. Openly mocks all gods, kills whoever he wants and does whatever he wants. Going to be perfect for a vampire lord.

Level 50 high elf with 100 one handed 100 stealth 100 smithing 97 light armor and 87 archery. I mainly use nightingale armor and my main attack strength is stealth and going invisible to backstab/throat slit. I don't really use followers as they tend to get in my way and I have no real skill in any form of magic. As a thief I use the steed stone for a carrying capacity of 510 with all my gear I have 51/510 carrying capacity. Expert difficulty (only have around a 320 armor rating with no extra magic). I just go around and murder people (got bored) and my bounty is 30600 gold.

You don't need to worry about that. Not only will you not have to worry about saving perks, but they'll be useless anyway: vampire lords and werewolves only earn perks by feeding on people, not by leveling up. Just like normal skills, it takes more feedings to earn every successive perk. Besides, there's only eleven of them But I commend you for looking to use your alternate form throughout the game; I would love to quest like that.


What does it mean to "have a badge"?


That sounds awesome! The build is not something that would suit me (I'd make certain changes), but it sounds really incredible overall. I love how you described your playstyle; I've always loved the One Handed/Heavy Armor/Destruction battlemage type, but I haven't thought to use it with shields. The variety in combat must be loads of fun. So far, you sound like you're going to make the most successful vampire lord in the thread.

Congratulations on that bounty

What made you want to use an Altmer who neglects magic? It's atypical, so I'm very curious.

I thought they looked cool. And thank you that bounty took a lot of kills without stealth which isn't easqy for me but shouting down a thunder stom to smite my enemies always helps.