Right now i'm doing The Break of Dawn quest. If you consider me explaiining how the final boss fights as a -spoiler- then read no further.


Right now i'm a level 20 Khajit that is a dule-weilding/enchanter am i'm playing on Master difficulty. All the attribute points have been invested into stamina.

I've been fighting this boss, Malkoran, is very powerful compared to my purposeful balanced character who was not desinged as a all powerful god. Malkoran does Chain lighting, AOE frontal frost attack, which are both one shot one kill on me. He can also ressurect my follower if she dies, pretty much confirming my death is immenant. His frost spikes are a two hitter quiter for me, meaning two shots and i'm dead. At first i have to face 6 Corrupted Shades. My follower Ulfered the Unbroken is my first line of defense. She tanks the shades while i have to stay back a safe distance from not get hit by the chain lighting. I throw out a shout to knock back Malkoran if his magic shield is not up.

I've been trying to beat this boss for the last 3 hours. And i came close two times. I'm trying new tatics like by trying to flank him while my follwer tanks, that seems to be my next tactic.


Why did i go through all the trouble to tell you this?

Well, because, i fought this boss before with my over powered charactors and didn't even realize it was a boss. Yes i was playing on master. Thus, my point is for those of you that think when you hit levels 20-25 the game becomes broken. Well, if it does its cause you broke it. Every boss i fight is this involving with my new character; hence, the game is so much more fun, involving and indepth. I can't wait to encounter all the other bossess out there where i have to figure out how to beat them and witness their awsome fighting styles. If you getting bored with your OP character, its time to learn from your mistakes.

And for those of you that have...

Tell me about some of the epic boss fights you have had with a character that's not OP and while playing on Master difficulty.

I don't think any of my battles have been "epic". It's a fun game, but combat isn't it's forte. Most major battles have been decided by some basic tactic or flaw in the geometry of the area. I don't play Skyrim for the boss battles.

well my friend you are missing out indeed. I've played the game 300 hours plus, and it wasnt till i figured out how to make a well balanced character did boss battles become this epic for a EOS game. There are lessons to be had my friend, lessons to be had. Nevertheless, most people think they know all there is to know and will therefore not try and make a balanced character but its not my loss its theres.

This worked for me. Those streaming ice attacks are bad, bad, bad. It was cooperative work between me and Lydia that did it. We are both `tanks` and while Lydia was happy to charge and just be a bit stunned, I died instantly with one hit. So while popping the usual potions and using my force Shout, I ducked behind the door just as that killer ice came my way and let Lydia go in. At this point I can`t use my Force Shout as it will kill Lydia, but I noticed that Mage can`t always use his Frost thing either, maybe cos he`s low on Magicka or because a friendly is in his way.

Anyway, I picked off the soul things, staying behind the door, waited for his ice crap again and then charged him. Used my Shout (safely away from Lydia who was stunned) and smashed the mage hard which stunned him good while using magicka poison on him with every strike and popping health potions. By this point Lydia was back up and keeping the mage engaged. And that`s the trick keep him engaged as much as possible and poison his magicka ability.

After what seemed like ages he died- but of course that wasn`t the end of it. However, lydia and I made short work of the resultant spectre.

Most of my `boss ` battles go like this, although I never see them as `bosses` just a pretty tough guy that needs putting in his place.

And I don`t use any special levelling process to do it, I just take my time and do whatever.

thanks for the tips but i had to skip over them cause part of the fun in doing this is figuring it out on my own. However, when you fought this guy did the frost attacks kill you in one shot? as well as the chain lighting?

do dragons count? on my thief i had a dragon in winterhold who i could not kill, when i got him to come down it killed me and if i tried to run it would chase me, the only solution? jump off the nearest bridge (which was painfully close to commiting sucide, i hit the only spot in the water that would save me, have an inch any other way i i would have been a red spot on the ice), it got me the time to run away but the dragon still chased me into a large crack into the ice that had two saber cats sleeping near by at the other ways out, and with a dragon behind me i could only jump into the water and look for a better place to surface, it worked though)

You ask for people to "share their epic boss fights," and then you blow off the first person who does just that?

Oooookay.

Gator, I see his point even if it is a bit of a contradiction. I should have put a spoiler in. It`s much more fun figuring out yourself.

@backstaber: The chain-lighting killed me in one shot everytime. If I was a Mage I`d buy that for a dollar! I never gave him the chance to hit me with the frost attacks, because any of that is usually deadly within one or two shots.

Point taken - it just kind of rubbed me the wrong way, I guess.


It's been a while since I fought that battle - it was on my first character, and I was a fairly high level by then - IIRC, even then the chain lightning could drop me in two or three hits. The frost, not quite so much.

lol no i he was sharing some tips on how to beat the guy i was just fighting, my bad i didn't mean to sound rude. Alas, i finally beat that dam monster and can always remeber how i got the dawn breaker. Anyhow now i'll read his post in full. It was just that i have been fighting that boss for 4 plus hours and didnt want to beat him from someone else idea is all

My Mage was a very low health character and was really easy to kill so most boss type fights involving multiple enemies were really hard. There was one in particular in a dungeon where I was up against a very powerful caster and two named Draugr Lords who were also very powerful. Any of the three could one shot me. The Mage would cast that frost blast spell over and over. I was not an alchemist and had only destruction and conjuration spells to use. I did have a Dremora Lord of my own but they were so powerful it was one shout and one hit and he would disappear. That fight took me a very long time to complete.

My current thief/assassin could sneak in and one shot each of them with ease. He's also not nearly as fun to play now because nothing is challenging and I haven't even gone out of my way to make him overpowered. He just ended up that way from natural progression.

I've got to hand it to you - after four hours of trying to beat the same guy, my computer would be a pile of shattered junk from all my raging.

Well,I typically bring my shisha pipe with me and we have a few tokes, talk about old times and such (occasionally listen to some Bob Marley or sitar music), then we get down to killing each other. So yeah...I know these guys pretty well and under their rough covering lie truly incredible people, for example, did you know the draugur at the end of bleak falls has an corn-flakes-box-art collection? Or that The King in Rags is an avid Bee-Gees fan?

I once spent about two hours in a fight and managed to survive being killed. I was really please because I knew I`d gained a lot of XP and probably leveled up.

And then a sole bandit killed me with an arrow. I`d totally forgot to save and lost the whole two hours.

At times like that I go away for a while and have a cup of green tea and philosophise. Saves me from raging.

Ohhh that hurts. Yea when that happens I have to walk away for a bit too.

I agree, battles are pretty cool on master level if your character is not overpowered

Naughty answer to the OP's question, but very funny.

My tactics depend on the boss. I managed to defeat Red Eagle with the tactic I use against bosses with pretty weak 'guards' in general. First I do an ice shout against the boss, then I slash with my dual wield blades on the minor enemies and once in a while heal myself. If I can't get the minors to be killed before the boss defreezes, then I use Turn Undead or the likes (against undead; with living npc's I use my bow and stealth) and go on with killing all the minor opponents. When they're all finally dealt with, I turn my focus to the boss, mostly with healing magic in the left hand and a blade in the right one. Got to note, I always use my surroundings. Luring the minor enemies to a different place and kill them off there, running around the table with the boss, Jumping on higher ground and make it rain arrows (not always advisable, since a lot of enemies know either shouts, magic or use bows), hiding behind some pillar and play the "boo!" game with a bow or a shout, and so on.

Morokei on the other hand, I could not do by getting near him. Got killed pretty fast due to his lightning attack. So I put myself at the higest place, shot one of my best arrows while sneaking, waited until he came up, jumped down, shot another at him, stayed in the shadows until he went past me, sneaked up again, and repeat. As long as you're at a good distance from enemies while shooting, they'll come investigating the place where you sat when shooting him, not where you actually are if you moved.

Also, Azura's quest boss was hell for me. I've been killed a lot there, and even once managed to kill that bastard, right at the time he managed to kill me! So as my character dropped dead, Azura started her thankyou speech. I wanted to bash my head on my keyboard ... >_< Really, that fight was very hard. Probably partly to do with the fact my character is pure melee aside from restoration, and the enemy always stays at a good distance with his "minor" (*ahem*) helpers between us. That was one of the very few times where I actually used my ice shout against one of the minor enemies and ran/jumped/tried whatever to get close to him and continually slashed him while drinking health potions. I blame my victory on luck too.

I only ever play on Adept (I think it's called, the "normal" one), simply because I like the balance between me and NPC's attacks, and with all my mods changing god knows how many different game variables, I die just as fast as I would on a vanilla game on Master, I could probably play on master but I am not the kind of person that likes to sit hacking away at a run-of-the-mill bandit for too long.. I prefer to be able to just run through weak enemies, but I still get cut down often enough, even from supposed run-of-the-mill-ers.

I always hated the term "boss battle" in every game, since I first could understand games, so I don't see anyone as a "boss", I just see them as another inhabitant of Skyrim/Tamriel, just that they are more powerful than your average citizen (like me, I guess).

Having said that though, none of the "boss"es really stand out in my memory, probably because I don't think of them that way though.

I do love big fights though, but I don't like long drawn out hack-at-bandit-for-5-minutes scenarios, so master difficulty is out the window.
The ratio should always be 1:1 it makes no sense otherwise. Unless you are wanting to be _the_ most weak citizen in the world.

All above are my own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of others, they do not step on others opinions either, take it how you will.

I am an avid F5'er as I go, but sometimes it isn't the greatest idea, especially when I did it halfway through a battle with Morokei, so I had no choice but to finish the battle, the second he saw me I was toast. It took plenty of kiting and spell management before I could make a dent in him, I was around lvl20 at the time, playing on Master, ofc.

I play a light-armor one-handed warrior, no off-hand whatsoever. Subsequently, I'm very squishy, but I can also lay down the hurt with my Legendary Ebony War Axe, Vicis. Pretty much any bossfight is an exercise in dodging and timing power attacks perfectly. If I screw up once and get hit with a power attack, or strong spell, in the case of Malkoran, I'm very much toast.

I remember an epic battle with a particularly nasty Master Vampire in South Shriekwind Bastion. I was low level and pretty much out of my depth, I died more often than I care to remember, after many hours trying and failing (constantly altering my tactics) I finally defeated the soab.

Battles are rewarding at lower levels.

Oh yeah, I remember encountering a master vampire at low level too. Got obliterated instantly multiple times. Only thing I could do was lure him into a hallway with fire spitting dragon heads traps, run from the front to the back again and lower a gate so he was trapped. Still took a lot of time before he finally was dead.

Bosses die in a hit or two. There are no "Epic boss battles". Even if I intentionally built a crappy character the bosses would be easy. There are no real tactics you ever have to use. Line of sight and dodge attacks. That's it. Gimping yourself only makes that take a little longer, but it isn't any more complex somehow magically. Most bosses rise out of a coffin or are up a staircase with their backs turned to you also allowing you to get the drop on them before they so much as can lift a finger. It is very disappointing.

I have two characters who have done this quest; my Nord 2H warrior, and my Archer/Conjurer. My melee warrior was by far the hardest to win this battle with. I had to go through the battle 4-5 times before I finally got him, and I even had Lydia with me. Those frost and lightning attacks got me everytime, and I couldn't get close enough to him before I bit the granite.

My archer was a one-try solo effort. I took out the shades first from the stairs, then poisoned my arrows with Dmg magicka so he couldn't cast, and shortly after he was dead. Took about 7-8 arrows, but I shot from my safe spot in the hallway. Way too easy like that.

That's been my general experience so far. My warrior dies A LOT, because he only wears Steel Plate (cause it's so awesome) and wields his Skyforge Greatsword (cause it's awesome) but that gear doesn't stand up to the lvl 36 resistance I'm meeting, so even though he has 270 HP, bosses take me out constantly.

My archers has 150 HP and wears Saviors Hide, but rarely even takes a hit. I just summon an Atronach to take the punishment, and then finish off the resistance from afar. Cakewalk compared to being a 2H fighter.