The Elder Scrolls V: Dawnguard

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

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.

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

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 the Dawnguard and the add-on will begin.

Vampires
Joining forces with Harkon allows the Dragonborn to become a Vampire Lord - the paragon of the species. The transformation process works similar to Lycanthropy and grants access to unique powers. One ability is confirmed as Vampiric Grip 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 Vampire Lord on sight, however this will no longer happens if the Dragonborn is a regular vampire. Unlike werewolf transformations, the vampire form can be exited at will.

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.

Dawnguard
Joining Dawnguard grants the Dragonborn access to Fort Dawnguard, a large keep surrounded by trees and rocks. The unique benefits of joining the Dawnguard include various new weapons and armor to fight vampires, including crossbows and a new shout called Soul Tear.

Perks
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 it's consuming life blood through a bite or spell and for Werewolfs it's consuming the heart when feeding on a dead corpse. This approach allows high or maximum level characters to obtain new perks that would otherwise be difficult or impossible.

Vampire Lord
The Vampire Lord skill tree includes eleven perks :



Werewolf
The Werewolf skill tree includes eight perks.

Combat
Dawnguard introduces several new additions to both ranged and melee combat. The first new addition is the inclusion of Dragonbone weapons that are reported to be the strongest weapons available. Mounted combat is also included, which allows the Dragonborn to fight on horseback with a variety of weapons, but not spells.

Crossbows are added to the arsenal of weapons at the Dragonborn's disposal. Crossbows will 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 will apply to crossbows. Crossbow bolts can also be crafted with various enchantments, such as fire and frost damage.

New shouts are also included in the add-on. One shout called Soul Tear, which supposedly only avaliable if the Dawnguard are joined, allows the Dragonborn to steal the soul of a defeated enemy and raise their soul as an undead minion.

Character makeover
Dawnguard adds a new character in The Ratways of Riften who can alter the Dragonborn's appearance. Race and gender are locked, but other facial features can be tweaked.

Oblivion
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 seen in the preview trailer and is accessed via a mysterious portal. In addition, an undead spectral horse can be obtained from Soul Cairn that can then be summoned at will and is not restricted to the undead realm.

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. Within the Soul Cairn realm some of the enemies include Bonemen, Wrathmen, Boneyard Keepers and an undead Dragon named Drunehviir.

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 diety of Vampires.

The trailer then depicts the transformation process in becoming a Vampire Lord and a new vampire feeding animation.

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 they symbols for Markarth and Solitude labeled in red.

The trailer concludes with the sun being blotted out of the sky above Dragonsreach in Whiterun.

Release
Dawnguard is scheduled for release on June 26 2012 on Xbox 360 initially and will cost 1600 Microsoft Points.

Distribution rights with Microsoft means Dawnguard will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 for the first thirty days but will later be released for PC and PS3 after an undisclosed amount of time.