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The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard Publication Information Developer(s) Bethesda Softworks Release date Xbox 360 – 26 June 2012

Windows – 02 August 2012

PlayStation 3: 26 Feb 2013 (USA)

27 Feb 2013 (Europe) – 26 June 2012– 02 August 2012 Game Information Setting Skyrim Time Period 4E 201

For other uses, see Dawnguard.

The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard is the first official add-on for the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim.

Released first for the Xbox 360 on 26 June 2012, and later on 2 August for PC, Dawnguard revolves around an ancient prophecy predicted by an Elder Scroll. Foretelling the eternal obfuscation of the sun, the scroll gave instructions on how to perform a magic ritual with a mythic bow and a special blood sacrifice. A legion of vampires known as the Volkihar Clan, lead by Lord Harkon, seek to actuate the prophecy by performing the ritual; the Dawnguard, a faction of crossbow-wielding vampire hunters counters their aims. Skyrim's Dragonborn protagonist chooses whether to join the Dawnguard and prevent Nirn from being plunged in irrevocable night, or assist the vampire coven with realizing their malevolent ambition.

Introduced in Dawnguard are two unique skill trees, one for vampirism noted as "Vampire Lord" and one for lycanthropy.

Twenty-two quests featured in the plug-in; twelve exist in the main quest, with several optional side quests. A few repeatable, radiant quests can also be completed. The questline forks at "Bloodline," where allegiance between the Volkihar Clan and the Dawnguard must be selected. Choice of side is irreversible.

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Portal

Factions The two main factions central to the add-on are the Dawnguard , an order of vampire hunters dedicated to eradicating vampires, and the Volkihar Clan , a shadowy group of vampires who seek to blot out the sun.

Quests The main questline consists of 12 quests that take place across Skyrim and beyond. 9 side quests for each faction are available, along with 4 additional side quests that are unrelated to the storyline.

Characters Over 80 new characters are introduced in the add-on, most of whom are members of the newly added factions.

Locations 23 new locations are included throughout Skyrim, including 2 large completely new areas: the Soul Cairn and Forgotten Vale

Magic A plethora of Dragon shouts, blessings and spells are introduced along with full perk trees for Lycanthropy and the Vampire Lord

Armor 5 new armor sets are introduced into the add-on, not to mention several unique pieces in both light and heavy variants.

Items 5 new alchemy ingredients , several new books and pieces of jewelry along with some unique items.

Storyline

The story of The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard involves the return of a Volkihar vampire lord named Harkon, who seeks to end the tyranny of the sun. Harkon intends to use the power in the ancient Elder Scrolls to accomplish his goal, while an order of vampire hunters known as the Dawnguard seek to stop him.[1][2]

The Dragonborn is given the option either join the Dawnguard and help defeat Harkon or join forces with the Volkihar vampires.[1][2]

Dawnguard can be started by listening for rumors or asking Hold Guards about a group of vampire hunters who are recruiting. This will steer the Dragonborn in the direction of Fort Dawnguard, and the add-on will begin.[2]

Alignment

Vampires

Joining forces with Harkon allows the Dragonborn to become a Vampire Lord - the paragon of the species. If the Dragonborn is already a Werewolf, accepting to become a Vampire Lord will remove the Lycanthropy , but it can be regained later.The transformation process works similar to Lycanthropy and grants access to unique powers. One such ability is, which suspends an enemy in the air with telekinesis as their health is drained. Other powers and abilities include summoning a gargoyle, hovering above the ground and transforming into a cloud of bats.

As with Lycanthropy, townspeople will attack a transformed Vampire Lord on sight, however this will no longer happen if the Dragonborn is a regular vampire. Unlike werewolf transformations, the vampire form can be exited at will.[2]

In addition to new powers, joining the vampires grants access to Castle Volkihar - an island stronghold that not only serves as a base, but grants bonuses to vampiric powers and gives blood potions, which heal and count towards vampiric feeding.[2]

Dawnguard

Perks

Joining the Dawnguard grants the Dragonborn access to Fort Dawnguard , a large keep said to be hidden somewhere in the southern region of Skyrim.The unique benefits of joining the Dawnguard include various new weapons and armor to fight vampires, including crossbows.Furthermore, Dawnguard members will also be able to "hire" Armored Trolls , which serve as temporary followers.

The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard introduces two new perk trees: Vampire Lord and Werewolf. Rather than spending points to add perks as in the base game, new perks are gained by feeding on enemies with the new powers. For vampires, consuming life blood through a bite power attack or a Drain Life spell causes new perks to be gained; for werewolves, it is consuming the heart when feeding on a dead corpse.[5] This approach allows high or maximum level characters to obtain new perks that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to obtain.[2]

Vampire Lord

The Vampire Lord skill tree includes eleven perks:[6][7]

Perk Description Requirements Power of the Grave 50 point bonus to health, magicka and stamina as a Vampire Lord. None Detect All Creatures Night Power: Detect all creatures, even dwarven automatons. Power of the Grave Mist Form Night Power: Turn into an invulnerable mist, while health, magicka, and stamina regenerate. Detect All Creatures Supernatural Reflexes Night Power: Everything slows down while you move faster. Mist Form Blood Healing Killing a person with a power attack bite restores all your health. Power of the Grave Unearthly Will Night Powers and Blood Magic cost 33% less. Power of the Grave Poison Talons Melee attacks do 20 points of poison damage. Unearthly Will/Blood Healing Night Cloak In combat you are surrounded by a cloud of bats that feed on enemies within melee range. Poison Talons Vampiric Grip Blood Magic: Can pull a creature to you from a distance, and do choking damage once it's close. Power of the Grave Summon Gargoyle Blood Magic: Can conjure a gargoyle to fight for you. Vampiric Grip Corpse Curse Blood Magic: Target is paralyzed. Summon Gargoyle

Werewolf

The Werewolf skill tree includes eight perks.[2][5]

Perk Level Description Requirements Bestial Strength 1 Do 25% more damage as a werewolf. N/A 2 Do 50% more damage as a werewolf. N/A 3 Do 75% more damage as a werewolf. N/A 4 Do 100% more damage as a werewolf. N/A Totem of Ice Brothers Werewolf Totem of Brotherhood howl calls Ice Wolves.* Bestial Strength Totem of the Predator Werewolf Totem of Hunt howl has extended range, and shows whether the targets are not in combat, searching or actively in combat.* Bestial Strength Totem of Terror Werewolf Howl of Terror affects even higher level creatures. Bestial Strength Totem of the Moon Werewolf Totem of Brotherhood howl calls werewolves.* Totem of Ice Brothers Animal Vigor 100 point bonus to health and stamina in beast form. Bestial Strength Gorging Feeding heals twice as much health. Animal Vigor Savage Feeding Able to feed off most dead creatures. Feeding off creatures instead of people only provides half the extended time. Gorging

*The quest "Totems of Hircine" must be completed before these will become usable.

Combat

Dawnguard introduces several new additions to both ranged and melee combat. The first new addition is the inclusion of Dragonbone weapons, which are stronger than Daedric Weapons.[8]

Crossbows are added to the arsenal of weapons at the Dragonborn's disposal. Crossbows remain loaded while running through the world and provide a quicker shot. They are, however, slower to reload than bows. Another benefit is that each shot has a chance to stagger an opponent. All of the perks spent in Archery skill tree apply to crossbows.[2] Crossbow bolts can also be crafted with various enchantments, such as fire and frost damage.[5]

New shouts are also included in the add-on. One shout called Soul Tear can be learned from Durnehviir, an undead Dragon found in the Soul Cairn.[8] This shout allows the Dragonborn to steal the soul of a defeated enemy and raise their soul as an undead minion.[2]

Soul Cairn

A plane of Oblivion known as Soul Cairn, an ethereal realm of trapped souls, is a new location that can be visited in Dawnguard. It can be accessed via a mysterious portal in Castle Volkihar.[1][2]

In addition, the Dragonborn can complete a side quest to free an undead skeletal horse named Arvak. This mount can then be summoned at will and is not restricted to the undead realm.[4][5]

Creatures

Legendary Dragons are the new maximum-level Dragon class. In addition to Legendary Dragons, new enemies such as Gargoyles, Death Hounds, Armored Trolls can be also encountered.[1][2] Within the Soul Cairn realm some of the enemies include Bonemen, Wrathmen, Keepers and an undead Dragon named Durnehviir.[7][5]

Character makeover

Dawnguard adds a new character in The Ragged Flagon of Riften named Galathil who can alter the Dragonborn's appearance for 1000 . Race and gender are locked, but other facial features can be tweaked.[2]

Preview trailer

A preview trailer was released by Bethesda on 31st May 2012 that showed various aspects of the add-on.

Narration

You have found our fortress.

You have returned my daughter.

But what is it you seek?

Is it to be one of us?

To make the darkness your own?

To feast on the souls of the living...and the dead?

Or are you with them?

The Dawnguard.

They think they can stop us.

But we will find them.

The Elder Scrolls will be mine.

And the tyranny of the sun shall end.

Trailer

The trailer begins by showing a mysterious fortress on an island, known as Castle Volkihar. The leader of the vampire faction, Harkon, narrates that the Dragonborn has found their fortress and returned his daughter, who is shown carrying an Elder Scroll on her back. An altar that bears a resemblance to the Altar of Molag Bal in Markarth is shown, which seems pertinent as Molag Bal is considered to be the creator and patron deity of vampires.[9][10] The trailer then depicts the transformation process in becoming a Vampire Lord and a new vampire feeding cinematic.

Fort Dawnguard is shown and the inclusion of crossbows is confirmed. The trailer then shows the Dragonborn fighting a variety of creatures, including a gargoyle-like creature, an ogre-like giant and a vampire who bursts into a cloud of bats. Also included in the trailer is an example of mounted combat, an undead skeletal horse and a Dragon that dives into a frozen lake. The Dragonborn is also shown opening an Elder Scroll, then a map of Skyrim comes into view with the symbols for Markarth and Solitude labeled in red.

The trailer concludes with the sun being blotted out above Dragonsreach in Whiterun, as a Dragonborn with glowing eyes walks toward the perspective.

Release

On 26 June 2012, Dawnguard released on Xbox 360 in the anglosphere,[11] priced at 1,600 Microsoft Points.[1]

Dawnguard became available for download on Steam on 2 August 2012 in English, Spanish, German, and French.

The PlayStation 3 version was delayed according to a Bethesda Softworks spokesperson who said, "We are not satisfied yet with Dawnguard's performance on the PS3," in an interview.[12]

It was released on PS3 in North America on February 26th 2013.[13]

Public beta

Following the success of PC beta updates, Bethesda announced a Dawnguard Beta for Xbox 360 on 1 June 2012. Bethesda selected applicants in the third week of June, and those accepted, receive an Xbox LIVE code to redeem the full version of Dawnguard.

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