I miss the invisible Uderfrykte from Oblivion.

At early levels yes, but as soon as I get a weapon that deals a good solid 30-40+ damage and given how predictable their attack pattern is with a few shield/weapon bashes/stuns in, I can take it down no problem.

Also fire decimates them, my destruction mages can kill them no problem before I even get my levels in double digits. The fire shout is also a big help for warriors, hitting them for 1/4 of their health on master.

Every enemy has an easy way to kill it.

I find Dragons to be harder than Deathclaw just for the sole reason I've yet to see a pack of wandering Deathclaw which makes my tactics the same each time I have to face off with one, and that being said I would love to have the strength of a deathclaw and more agressive dragons, when they swoop down why can't they pick you up and drop you for an insta-kill, or why is it that the flames just roll over you and you're fine?

Edit: A brush gun doing 174 dmg Destroys everything Deathclaw included, but I get what you're saying.. Skyrim has no enemies that are quick to kill you. You see a dragon long before it attacks, giants are passive you know where they are, Sabre cats and bears are a joke, mages are easy to dodge... and when I see a troll I think about the troll face/song mod and giggle myself to death so those don't count. The only time I really die and say "wtf" is when an archer caps my ass.

But you couldn't just run out in the open against deathclaws, dragons scale with you and are so predictable and avoidable. Deathclaws are predictable but just aren't avoidable when in close combats, which is soon as they run so fast.

But really, aren't deathclaws predictable?

They sprint at you at full speed and when they're close enough, they'll pounce.
The difference is that with deathclaws you have less time to think; the moment they're running, you best not [censored] up. Also I'd say it helps that in New Vegas, they typically come in packs, so you wanna try to alert just one without drawing the attention of ALL of them.

Again, Skyrim lacks this because enemies don't gain damage so much as they do HP.
I suppose it's also just an awkward level of difficulty for enemies? Or the combat system in general? For instance, I could dive into a draugr dungeon with a higher leveled character and tank hordes of them while swinging mindlessly, but if I run into an arch-mage enemy, I'll spend a good hour reloading my game, trying to figure out how the [censored] I'm supposed to kill something that kites nonstop and spams a very accurate lightning spell that takes over half my health.

I guess the main difference is the strategy. In New Vegas you come across a deathclaw or cazador swarm and your -FIRST- thought is to develop a plan on how to approach the situation. In Skyrim, you never really approach -anything- and think "oh crap" because it's all leveled with you, and even for the tough enemies you'd like to plan for (arch-mages), there's not much planning possible....

Its not a lack of fierce enemies. Its simply the inclusion of a sprint button enabling you to run away from them. If Skyrim had no sprint, Saber Cats would be the deathclaw equivalent.

Deathclaws scare me [censored]less, Skyrim has done no such thing lol

I see where your going with this. Something other than dragons that are hard to beat would be pretty nice. I wouldn't mind fighting death claws in Skyrim. Something like a deathclaw aside from dragons would be pretty cool though.

Having to use your environment against certain enemies would in my opinion though solve your issue. Having to stay alert and keeping on good ground would surely keep you alive longer.

Hence why I don't run at them with a combat knife while in the midist of yelling Leroy Jenkins.

A sabre cat deals 45 or 90 damage (snowy variant) and has 275 HP.
A deathclaw deals 125 damage, has 500 HP and in New Vegas, they can be found in large groups.

A Centurion on the other hand can have 1000 HP and deal 100 damage, but they're incredibly slow an bulky, making them easy to avoid, whereas a deathclaw is fast as hell and simply impossible to outrun (unless you have an outrageous supply of Turbo and don't mind wasting it all).
Dragons are similar, as they may knock you down to 5 HP, then say "brb, gonna go fly around aimlessly for a while lol." A Deathclaw just DOES NOT STOP once it sees you.

I can't recall an area in which I couldn't start from a disance kill a couple of them then run up and jump onto a large rock.

Not if you use two-handed weapons. You can be under level 10.

And yes, Skyrim does need fearsome enemies like Daedra.

When i saw the word daedra I tried to dismiss it.. I guess that only works in-game.

In New Vegas??

Well one, that's the idea. You're free to snipe them, but you better not miss, because the moment you do, you have a deathclaw (or three) running your way.
As for rocks....seriously wtf what rocks? It's a DESERT. I know Quarry Junction had some glitched ledge some people exploited to hell, but that's about it.

What a milkdrinker.

I fear the Cazadores as much as the deathclaws now. when your close to either of them, i mean really close to them, a sense of fear envelops you. and it becomes fight or flight by instinct. Skyrim doesn't have enemies like that. and i'm game for more enemies.

Ummm quarry Junction has what is it? Three big machines you can climb on that deathclaw can't climb up? The group of deathclaw across the river (where you find remenants armor) is full of rocks, east of black mountain by the train yard.. tons of rocks.. west of the brotherhood safe house... trains.

That's just if I'm level 10 if I'm level 30 I walk in there making heads explode with crits off the brushgun.

I totally agree.

The game needs deathclaws, something big, scary and always dangerous.
You should have something that can kill the highest levels with ease.

Most things are leveled with you, and that makes them less good, and almost nothing is scarily strong or stands out.

You see a deathclaw, you go, oh crap! And blast the it with your biggest weapon, and hope it does'nt kill you. And 99% of the time you die.
And that is a good thing. You should have enemies that that strong.

Games were the world has areas and enemies you can't go near till later are more fun and satisfying.

I always used a Gauss Rifle

It is a nice gun. The sound it makes, in particular. I even used in for a http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/images/27553-1313393258.jpg I made. But there was just something primitive and visceral about the anti-material rifle that I liked.

Anyways, I think it should be noted that there is a fundamental difference between Skryim and FNV.

While Skyrim does have magic and archery, it's really much more of a melee-centric game. Close quarters, hand to hand combat is a very big part of the game. On the other hand, New Vegas had melee, but was much more centered around ranged combat. Think, for a moment, about how that would impact the enemies you go up against.

I've tried to melee a deathclaw in New Vegas on a few occasions. It never went very well at all. They ripped me apart rather quickly. So, naturally, I typically fell back to my big guns to take them out before they got too close to me. In Skyrim, most people are going to be trying to tackle such enemies in that same way, with melee. If the enemy is so powerful that it'll rip you apart before you have much chance to do anything (like the deathclaws do), it really isn't going to work.

If the 3 machines you mean are of a conveyor belt nature, the deathclaws could get up them if they saw you there ... I know.

And yes, there are a number of rocky spots in the game. Just seemed at times like you prevented from climbing to an area that it looked like you should be able to reach.

I also hated cazadors ... particularly because after wasting ammo and poison antidotes, you often got nothing in return ... they were mostly just a pain in the butt.

Anti-materiEl.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/materiel



Anyhoo, it's already been said: Sabrecats and bears are the beefgates in Skyrim.

aye and when you do there are still the frost trolls those always hurt.

This conversation is wierd, but the OP is right. Even the some of the most fearsome creatures and foes in the land of Skyrim pale in comparison to the Deathclaws of post-apocalyptic America.

Of course, we also have to acknowledge the gameplay differences between New Vegas and Skyrim. In Skyrim, it's a lot easier to become overpowered and your character can become VERY overpowered. Here are just a few examples: Dragon Shouts, Paralysis, Sneak Bonus, 0% Destruction, etc. A few of you have said, Deathclaws can be easily one-shotted with an Anti-Materiel Rifle/YCS-186, well all creatures in Skyrim, including Deathlords and Ancients, can just as easily be stagger-locked to death. And that's just for Energy Weapons/Guns characters. The hardest thing I ever had to do in New Vegas was clear out Dead Wind Cavern on a Melee character, no followers and no sneak, on the hardest difficulty. It took hours of preparation, and I can't recall doing anything nearly as difficult on Skyrim, of course, I've only played Skyrim on Expert.

The reason why Deathclaws were so formidable was because of what a unique enemy they were. They were huge, but incredibly fast. The only thing in Skyrim I can think of that might match a deathclaw's speed is a Werewolf Savage, and you don't really see those. Anyways, they were large, they were incredibly fast, they usually attacked in packs, and they dealt incredibly high damage. As Longknife said, your DT could only help you so much. Now compare the Deathclaw to what people consider Skyrim's hardest foes.

Dragons - They can deal very high damage, but their attacks are slow and predictable, they also give you warning to prepare yourself even further. A Dragons bite can easily be dodged by backing away, and its fire/frost breath can easily be avoided by either using a ward or blocking and bashing to stagger it. Dragons can be killed without losing a single point of health.

Trolls - Only at lower levels, trolls are lonesome beasts, and while they can pommel you to death (their attacks are very hard to dodge) they still can easily be killed by fire, even easier when they randomly through a 'hissy fit' during battle.

Draugr Death Overlords - In a nutshell, they're just regular soldiers with very high damage and health. Not much of a challenge. However, and IMO this is one of Skyrim's top 3 hardest enemies, Draugr Archers are incredibly dangerous.

Chaurus Reaper - The equivalent of New Vegas's Cazadores, the Chaurus Reaper's true potential lies in their venom and not their bite. Unfortunately, they are usually accompanied by the weaker standard Chaurus.

BTW this thread got me really excited for FO:4, I can't wait to see what they do with Deathclaws in that game. One improvement I definitely want to see is the addition of a ranged attack. Their greatest weakness in New Vegas was that they couldn't climb. Being mutated giant reptiles, they should have some sort of poisonos bile that they can build up and spit out at you, or something like toxic waste.

Deathclaws ceased to be a concern once I got my hands on a riot shotgun and acquired the shotgun surgeon and stay back perks.

Then they were great fun. Even divide deathclaws failed to measure up to that combo.