Forsworn Briarhearts - bugged or very odd scaling? : V - Skyrim

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:51 am

Can someone put one up against Alduin? (I don't have access to the game at the moment)

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:42 am

Briarhearts are scaled to be several levels ahead of you and ALSO scale up to a higher level than some of the enemies like the draugr death overlords

So I'm not surprised they are kicking some butt

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:06 am

The scaling problem is most enemies don't scale well. So your wind up with a briar heart killing machine surrounded by a bunch of one hit kill trash mobs.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:12 pm

I don't know why's all this fuss about them I can kill them with three dual wield power attacks and they can't even fight back but I think that's normal since I'm level 52 on master difficulty :biggrin:

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:49 am

The scaling problem is most enemies don't scale well. So your wind up with a briar heart killing machine surrounded by a bunch of one hit kill trash mobs.

I think it's good to have one hit kill trash mobs to improve the skills u don't usually use like illusion or destruction unless of course u'r already a mage.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:38 pm

I think it's good to have one hit kill trash mobs to improve the skills u don't usually use like illusion or destruction unless of course u'r already a mage.

Yeah that's fine but the way the game scales is really inconsistent. You wind up with 99% worthless trash mobs and a few scattered extreme badasses.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:29 pm

Briarhearts do come as a shock when you've just easily wiped out the rest of the camp, I've found I can use bash to keep them at bay, but I make life a little easier by hitting them from stealth first and take down a large portion of their health.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:29 am

another question ... are they considered as undeads?

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:47 am

I never had a problem with them, all of the sudden they are killing me in one flurry. I have 600 health and 270 armor(45% reduction of physical damage). On expert. I just finished the MQ, level 53 right now and nothing has come close to killing me for quite some time. In fact this was my first death on this character, who I was about done with anyway since I've completed most of the game. So I haven't been playing very carefully, and was starting to use melee just for laughs on my archer and to gain levels.

I go to a forsworn camp(Hag's End), kill pretty much everything easily up until a briarheart, the briarheart kills me in three quick swings in I assume a dual wield power attack with dual axes.

That means they're doing roughly 300 damage before armor is factored in, with one handed weapons. I can take more hits from a Draugr Death Overlord with a 2 handed ebony weapon than I can from this briarheart. This thing is hands down the most powerful creature in the game I've encountered so far, it's not even a contest.

I'd be like "okay" if this was Alduin or something, but it's just a standard leveled enemy type wielding some of the lowest level weapons in the game. If it's not a bug it's just plain stupid.

Wellllllllll.... Briar Hearts aren't really human anymore... after all they're heart has been replaced. I'd wager it makes them immensly stronger. :biggrin:

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:44 am

To become a briarheart they volunteer to have their heart surgically removed and replaced with a magic heart. They are badass because they are dedicated to being badass.

» Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:14 pm

Just pickpocketed his heart to check weapons. Ordinary forsworn axes, not poisoned, no poison in his inventory. Unless they automatically get poisoned when they enter combat or something doesn't seem like it could be that. Wouldn't surprise me if they did have uber scaled poisons the player couldn't access though.

Also just tested with dremora lords. He kills them incredibly fast, if he's using poison his weapons are treated as being always poisoned because he doesn't hit any less hard with subsequent swings. I calmed and healed him after he kill the first two, he killed the next two just as quickly.

If this thing isn't some sort of design oversight Bethesda are jerks to melee characters.

Great, now I'm scared. Nothing should defeat a dremora that easily. I don't mind something that gives dremoras a hard time, but these minions of Oblivion are supposed to be hard, not one-shot killed.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:59 am

According to the UESP they are oddly considered both undead and humanoid for certain combat checks but i haven't personally confirmed this. When I see them , it's time for business and it's over rather quickly for either side if I make a mistake =P

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:04 am

They are the hardest hitting mofos in the game, few enemies are quite as dangerous, with the exception of full Fus Roh Dah ebony bow wielding Dragur Death Overlords.

I suspect they might have acquired certain perks like ignore armor or critical at certain levels that increases their damage output significantly.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:00 am

I've a melee character that can take 2-3 Draugr Death Lords with ease (I actually used them as "trainers" to reach lvl 100 both in heavy and light armor... I stand there taking their hits and gulping the occasional health potion to stay alive) but I have to be extra cautious with Briarhearts.

Considering their swords are on par with steel weapons, their base damage is way over the top. While I'm not bothered by a good challenge, going against such enemies feels like the game is cheating on me. I would understand meeting a dragon that can chew me if I don't stay out of its way but a mere zombie? Intentional or just a bug, Briarharts are lame!

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:26 am

lol so now I get a quest to find a Briarheart's heart. Murphy's Law.

This time, I shouted him off the mountain. Phew.