Your toughest Skyrim battle

[King of the Sandbox]

I've been seeing a lot of people talk about the difficulty in Skyrim, and how it can go from stupid easy (one shotting most baddies with a stealthy arrow) to stupid hard (like how some people thought the frost troll on the way up the 7000 steps was OP).

I find it to be wonderfully diverse. Most 'minion' type baddies I can handle pretty easy, which makes me feel like an appropriate badass after working so hard on my armor, enchantments, training, etc. But then there are the encounters that slap me firmly back to the ground, reminding me that yes, while I AM Dovahkiin, I am also very, very mortal.

This got me to thinking, and I came up with a question;

What is the toughest battle you've had so far in Skyrim?

Mine was probably the time I fought a Dragon Priest. I was still low level, around 14, when I stumbled upon my first (and currently only) Dragonpriest. Needless to say, he was beating the bejebers out of me, nearly one-shotting me with his magic spells. I was running like a little girl, screaming for my life, chugging nearly all of my potions just to stay alive. I crossed down the mountain, over a river, and he was still pelting me with magick-y death. That's when I ran into the mudcrabs.

I sprinted past the chitinous little jerks, barely giving them a second thought, but a few moments later, I noticed the fire-y, ice-y, lightning-y death has ceased. I turned around, and the Dragon priest was being held up by the mudcrabs. They were dropping quick, but this was my chance. I quickly pulled my bow and began firing like a madman, pelting the Dragonpriest with staggering arrows, keeping him off balance. The mudcrabs snipped and snapped at him as I whittled him down. Soon, he had killed the mudcrabs, and turned his attention back to me. Luckily, by this point, I had him almost dead. I saw him preparing to unleash another icy wind, which I knew would finish me, but I thought if I can just get one more arrow off in time...

I watched as my arrow slammed in to him, killing him, as I quickly sidestepped a giant freezing ice attack. As my health slowly began to regenerate, I literally jumped off my couch and screamed .

So... now that you feel totally in awe of my awesome Dragonpriest killing skills... what was your toughest Skyrim battle?

 

[oplinger]

...Toughest? ..I had a mudcrab actually hit me once. Does that count? He did damage.

Otherwise, ....really maybe a giant. I three shot my first one though. Because I broke the game very quickly...

And not in the sense that I used the alchemy/enchanting trick. ...Just smithed armor, and enchanted it. Being level 18 in full daedric is actually extremely OP.

 

[Trippy Turtle]

This one mage is some mission that I forget was damn near impossible. I was tempted to turn the difficult down because he would kill me in about 2 seconds of flames while I was locked in a cage and on the odd occasion I managed to get out of there it took long time to kill him.
Otherwise a dragon that my horse (Shadowmere) hurt more then I did. :/

 

[Aaron Frederick]

Well, i havent gotten extremely far yet. And nothing has been super tough.

But the TYPE of fight that gets me is when it sneaks up on ME (Im being all sneaky and shit)
When the game takes away my 30x Damage backstab or my 3x Damage and poison arrow shot (Followed by like 8 more) i dont have much in the way of defense. So when a bear jumps me in the forest i get fucked, But if i sneak up on a dragon priest i can half hp him with one shot. And then laugh as his health gets wittled down by my insane poisons.

i also got 1 shotted by the crazy dude underneath Honingbrew meadery. He came right up to me and insta killed me with a cutscene.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

That stupid fucking alchemist near Whiterun.

"Yeah, this is just me, level 5 dragonborn, taking a stroll around this low level area - oh look, a hut! Goody! Looks nice! Maybe some friendly old lady will give me a quest or something! Blimey, whoever lives here sure does grow some exotic plants in their front garden, better take a peak inside this friendly looking hut.

Ah, its not an old lady after all, but an argonian! Lets see if I can help him out, god knows my race put his ancestors through a lot of shit back in Morrowind, seems to be busy mixi - ah, he seems to have noticed m -

OH SHIT FUCK FUCK ICE SHARDS HOLY ***** FUCK **** SHIT RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN WTF WHERE DID ALL MY HEALTH GO TIME TO GTFO OH SHIT NO THERES A DRAGON DAMN IT WHY FUCK ICE SHARDS AND FIRE OH SHIT"

It wasnt so much a battle as it was me pegging it over a wide open field, with an angry argonian on my back and a dragon swooping above me, occasionally swooping down to bite away large chunks of my health. I somehow managed to kill the alchemist, the dragon would have surely been my death but he somehow decided that those giants over there were much more tasty then me.

Well, the dragon must have started flirting with one of the mammoths or something because that giant was pissed and proceeded to club him to death in no less than 3 hits. For some reason it wouldnt let me absorb the soul though, which pissed me off a little.

Hahahahaha, nice. And I think you have to hurt the dragon at least to claim the soul?

 

[traineesword]

Toughest battle... 3 giants and 4 mammoths. I'd started a new game as a high elf mage and was pretty much incinerating everything thus far in less than 5 seconds, using only the first "flames" spell. I was only level 5, feeling cocky and wondered if i could take on a giant. My usual tactic of dual wielding flames wasn't too effective, as i soon realized i had to be too close to him. After narrowly dodging a bone swing but being shaken by the impact, I sprint a short distance away and turned around to see not just that one giant chasing me, but also his two buddies and their pet mammoths (though I'm not sure why, i didn't think Mammoths would have been too bothered about me attacking a giant). I hadn't even realized there was more than one giant, so i was very shocked to say the least. So I would cast fire rune spells onto the floor, turn and run whilst my magic regenerated but the giant didn't even seem to be taking that much damage. Eventually i came to a burnt out home. It had no roof but still retained most of the height of it's walls as well as a few bits of garden gate. It had enough room for me to slip in through the doorway, but the giants and mammoths couldn't enter. Or so i thought.
I'd regained my confidence now and was using a variety of spells, dualcast firebolt, summon flame atronach (who would occasionally move over to the doorway to get a more accurate shot and would be instakilled by a mammoths tusks of a giants foot. But i was slowly winning. slowly mostly because i had to wait for my magic to regenerate. I had killed two of the giants and was just finishing off my last mammoth when something very glitchy happened. The mammoth started jittering around and went ontop of one of the walls. I freaked and guzzled down some potions so i could finish it off quickly. with a sigh of relief, I looked for my last opponent, to see a giant squeezing through one of the larger gaps in the wall. Turned out the only thing that had been preventing him from entering through that one entrance he could had got through was because the mammoths had been blocking the way. So i played a little game of cat and mouse with him, running through a smaller gap, blasting him with spells until he turned around, left through his giantsize gap and ran around the house in hopes of pummelling me, but allowing me time to just run back into the house again.

Anyway, i somehow won this battle without having to use any health potions (and only the magic potions i mentioned). I'm only realizing now how bloody lucky I was. For there to be a burnt out hut nearby, for all the mammoths, even just the last one, blocking up the only hole the giant could get through. I was one lucky dude that day. I think my character is actually level 7 now, just from the destruction and conjuration boosts of that single encounter.

As for my other character, he was a thief. So the usual archery and sneak abilities, but it makes fighting dragons immensely hard in comparison to every other enemy. Either way, i was on my way to do some thieves guild quest and fast travelled to the closes place. It was Shearpoint. I thought I had done everything there was to do on there, but apparently not. The moment I arrived, a blood dragon swooped overhead, breathed down some ice and let out a roar. A coffin (which i had been unable to open in previous visits here) flew open and some sort of lich creature flew out. It was called Krosis (and it was only after i defeated it that I realised it was a dragon priest). So I had to fight both him and that dragon. They totally whupped me the first time as i tried to focus on the dragon and didn't get anywhere, due to constantly having low stamina and not being able to use my "zoom in slow time" bow ability. The game autoloaded just before i fast travelled, but i fast travelled there anyway. I wanted to win this fight. I can't really tell it all that dramatically... because i don't remember it being all that great. I snuck around, the dragon could still see me. But when Krosis awoke, he couldn't. So i got a sneak bonus as well as a critical hit, which caused him to stagger, in my first shot. And after that, for some reason i still don't know today, he just didn't cast spells at me. I stayed really close to him, chasing him around, downing stamina potions (for the zoom in slow time thing) and making him my little pin-cushion and eventually he fell down. His mask gave a 20% archery bonus, and so that made the dragon a lot easier. and thats about it for that story.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Mister Red Eagle was sure one hell of a fight the first time around. I hadn't had long on the game before taking on this little diversion and whilst the final battle was epic, it was hard on my health. Did wonders for my blocking and one handed though!

See from levels 2-16 my armaments of choice were an upgraded Steel Sword of Cold and a Steel Shield of Minor Blocking. Yes rather generic enchanted loot, but I grew attached to them and refused to swap in my blade for a fancier Elven or Dwarven counterpart. Midway through the fight with Red Eagle the charge ran out in my weapon and I had no Soul Gems left, so I was left cutting teeny ting pieces away from his health whilst high block skill saved my ass.

The reason it was my toughest? He's just one guy. It's not like being assaulted by a small army of Draugr defenders, no. It's just him and he was a pain in the ass. Okay he raises four skeleton archers, but they're easily one shotted to dust. I felt like it was just my character in an epic battle with a warrior of old.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

Toughest battle... 3 giants and 4 mammoths. I'd started a new game as a high elf mage and was pretty much incinerating everything thus far in less than 5 seconds, using only the first "flames" spell. I was only level 5, feeling cocky and wondered if i could take on a giant. My usual tactic of dual wielding flames wasn't too effective, as i soon realized i had to be too close to him. After narrowly dodging a bone swing but being shaken by the impact, I sprint a short distance away and turned around to see not just that one giant chasing me, but also his two buddies and their pet mammoths (though I'm not sure why, i didn't think Mammoths would have been too bothered about me attacking a giant). I hadn't even realized there was more than one giant, so i was very shocked to say the least. So I would cast fire rune spells onto the floor, turn and run whilst my magic regenerated but the giant didn't even seem to be taking that much damage. Eventually i came to a burnt out home. It had no roof but still retained most of the height of it's walls as well as a few bits of garden gate. It had enough room for me to slip in through the doorway, but the giants and mammoths couldn't enter. Or so i thought.
I'd regained my confidence now and was using a variety of spells, dualcast firebolt, summon flame atronach (who would occasionally move over to the doorway to get a more accurate shot and would be instakilled by a mammoths tusks of a giants foot. But i was slowly winning. slowly mostly because i had to wait for my magic to regenerate. I had killed two of the giants and was just finishing off my last mammoth when something very glitchy happened. The mammoth started jittering around and went ontop of one of the walls. I freaked and guzzled down some potions so i could finish it off quickly. with a sigh of relief, I looked for my last opponent, to see a giant squeezing through one of the larger gaps in the wall. Turned out the only thing that had been preventing him from entering through that one entrance he could had got through was because the mammoths had been blocking the way. So i played a little game of cat and mouse with him, running through a smaller gap, blasting him with spells until he turned around, left through his giantsize gap and ran around the house in hopes of pummelling me, but allowing me time to just run back into the house again.

Anyway, i somehow won this battle without having to use any health potions (and only the magic potions i mentioned). I'm only realizing now how bloody lucky I was. For there to be a burnt out hut nearby, for all the mammoths, even just the last one, blocking up the only hole the giant could get through. I was one lucky dude that day. I think my character is actually level 7 now, just from the destruction and conjuration boosts of that single encounter.

As for my other character, he was a thief. So the usual archery and sneak abilities, but it makes fighting dragons immensely hard in comparison to every other enemy. Either way, i was on my way to do some thieves guild quest and fast travelled to the closes place. It was Shearpoint. I thought I had done everything there was to do on there, but apparently not. The moment I arrived, a blood dragon swooped overhead, breathed down some ice and let out a roar. A coffin (which i had been unable to open in previous visits here) flew open and some sort of lich creature flew out. It was called Krosis (and it was only after i defeated it that I realised it was a dragon priest). So I had to fight both him and that dragon. They totally whupped me the first time as i tried to focus on the dragon and didn't get anywhere, due to constantly having low stamina and not being able to use my "zoom in slow time" bow ability. The game autoloaded just before i fast travelled, but i fast travelled there anyway. I wanted to win this fight. I can't really tell it all that dramatically... because i don't remember it being all that great. I snuck around, the dragon could still see me. But when Krosis awoke, he couldn't. So i got a sneak bonus as well as a critical hit, which caused him to stagger, in my first shot. And after that, for some reason i still don't know today, he just didn't cast spells at me. I stayed really close to him, chasing him around, downing stamina potions (for the zoom in slow time thing) and making him my little pin-cushion and eventually he fell down. His mask gave a 20% archery bonus, and so that made the dragon a lot easier. and thats about it for that story.

Yeah, I believe that's the same guy that chased me down the mountain and through the fjords. lol

Also, that giant encounter is one more perfect reasons I say this game is an exceptional RPG, if not the greatest ever in terms of dynamic encounters. You MADE that adventure, you weren't handed it on a silver platter with a giant card that read ADVENTURE on it.

 

[TimeLord]

I've been seeing a lot of people talk about the difficulty in Skyrim, and how it can go from stupid easy (one shotting most baddies with a stealthy arrow) to stupid hard (like how some people thought the frost troll on the way up the 7000 steps was OP

Fighting that Troll? Ha! Snuck round the thing after attempting sneaky arrows failed.

Anyway, my first Blood Dragon was probably my hardest fight so far. Frost Dragons are not too bad at my current level and I haven't encountered an Elder Dragon yet! 0_0

 

[Montezuma's Lawyer]

I know it sounds lame, but once I turned difficulty to Adept and decided to start a new game I had a very intense battle with a Draughr wielding a greatsword, it was probably the hardest fight I've had so far, but then again, I've been playing a Conjurer, and that guy never had to lift a finger in combat, except to summon another uber-badass Dremora Lord.

 

[Arakasi]

I met a Dragur Dreadking for the first time early in the game.
Had an Ebony bow using ebony arrows and constantly 1 hitted me, took about 100 arrows to take it down and about a billion save/loads.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

I've been seeing a lot of people talk about the difficulty in Skyrim, and how it can go from stupid easy (one shotting most baddies with a stealthy arrow) to stupid hard (like how some people thought the frost troll on the way up the 7000 steps was OP

Fighting that Troll? Ha! Snuck round the thing after attempting sneaky arrows failed.

Anyway, my first Blood Dragon was probably my hardest fight so far. Frost Dragons are not too bad at my current level and I haven't encountered an Elder Dragon yet! 0_0

Y'know, I did meet him, but by that time I was level 25 or so, and he didn't really give me a hard time.

I get the feeling he'll be looking for revenge when I finally finish this play through and make my second character and do the main story first.... which should be in approximately 5 to 6 years, given my best estimate.

 

[Daemonate]

I haven't started playing Skyrim yet, which will be my first Elder Scrolls game.

It sounds, well, awfully easy. I'm used to old-school infinity-engine type rpgs, in which it was quite difficult to break and trololol the whole game on easymode.

If I min-max a bit, is there a way to get a satisfying combat challenge on my playthough?

 

[King of the Sandbox]

That stupid fucking alchemist near Whiterun.

"Yeah, this is just me, level 5 dragonborn, taking a stroll around this low level area - oh look, a hut! Goody! Looks nice! Maybe some friendly old lady will give me a quest or something! Blimey, whoever lives here sure does grow some exotic plants in their front garden, better take a peak inside this friendly looking hut.

Ah, its not an old lady after all, but an argonian! Lets see if I can help him out, god knows my race put his ancestors through a lot of shit back in Morrowind, seems to be busy mixi - ah, he seems to have noticed m -

OH SHIT FUCK FUCK ICE SHARDS HOLY ***** FUCK **** SHIT RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN WTF WHERE DID ALL MY HEALTH GO TIME TO GTFO OH SHIT NO THERES A DRAGON DAMN IT WHY FUCK ICE SHARDS AND FIRE OH SHIT"

It wasnt so much a battle as it was me pegging it over a wide open field, with an angry argonian on my back and a dragon swooping above me, occasionally swooping down to bite away large chunks of my health. I somehow managed to kill the alchemist, the dragon would have surely been my death but he somehow decided that those giants over there were much more tasty then me.

Well, the dragon must have started flirting with one of the mammoths or something because that giant was pissed and proceeded to club him to death in no less than 3 hits. For some reason it wouldnt let me absorb the soul though, which pissed me off a little.

Hahahahaha, nice. And I think you have to hurt the dragon at least to claim the soul?

Thats what I thought, but later, I made my way to Rifton and a dragon attacked the city. My contribution to the battle was shouting half encouraging lines to the guards men while I surveyed the battle from a save distance, not even bothering to equip a spell, bow, or sword, and it still gave me the dragon soul.

(Note: by shout, I dont mean I used a dragon shout on the dragon. I didnt. The only thing I did that could have hurt the dragon is run away to hard. I was doing pretty badly in terms of health and mana potions and those are pretty crucial for a low level mage.)

Ah, I was about to be all "Arglebarglebut but but...!" til I read the note at the end. lol

Hmmm. weird. Just an odd bug I guess. But not one that's bother me personally. I've got more dragon souls than I know what to do with. I see a dragon, I run that fucker down. I do not stop until it is dead or flies beyond my sight, like a giant scaly wussy. Hence, I'm sitting on about 9 souls right now, waiting to be used.

 

[BlackSaint09]

Im level 39 and ive yet to have a tough battle.
And yes i play on medium combat difficulty.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

I haven't started playing Skyrim yet, which will be my first Elder Scrolls game.

It sounds, well, awfully easy. I'm used to old-school infinity-engine type rpgs, in which it was quite difficult to break and trololol the whole game on easymode.

If I min-max a bit, is there a way to get a satisfying combat challenge on my playthough?

Well, if you munchkin yourself, then yes, some of the challenge will most definately drop off... until you meet your build's weakness. (i.e. all points in to melee combat, then attacked by mages, etc.)

It's not easy, per se. It's just that since the scaling system isn't broken this time, you actually become more powerful than some of the weaker enemies. And becoming even more powerful makes the medium level enemies seem weaker in comparison, and so on, and so on, etc.

I'm pretty sure that's how it's SUPPOSED to work. I don't see why some folks are complaining about it, when they decry the foul error that was Oblivion's "everything stays as tough as you forever, no matter what level you are" system.

Heck, I LIKE walking into a bandit encampment and casually murdering them as they desperately try to fight me off to no avail. You know why? Because bandits robbed me and left me for dead before. Because I got stepped on by giants. Because I've been murderated by random groups of mages.

Now, it's daddy's turn to wear the big man pants, and all those beneath me will feel the sweet, suede-like blade of my vengeful wrath.

 

[DannyJBeckett]

I was wandering around near Riften, when I spotted two hunters under attack by a bear. Having some experience with bears, I decided to wade into the fray to help them. Quickly, the situation got out of hand as a Sabre-Toothed Cat and a Spriggan showed up, the latter of which summoning another bear; my thoughts at that moment were somewhere along the lines of "shit, I'm in the fuck here". However, I stuck through it with a combination of hacking with my sword in my right hand, constant healing with the left hand, unrelenting force shouts and back-pedalling like a little *****, I managed to kill them all AND save one of the hunters.

I was totally feeling like a boss, but then I got too cocky, walked into a bandit-controlled fort and got wiped out.