When I first played I went on Adept, when I got end-game with that character I went master which is not that hard when you have the right gear. I do love taking out fortresses of enemies because I feel like a baus. It is nice to have a challenge from time to time to remind you that you are not invincible.

Thought about the same thing the other day. On master most parts of the game are a walk in the park, even giants fall down to my daedric two-handed sword pretty fast. But the occasional elder dragon or dragon priest absolutely destroys my character. Some dwarven traps also kill me within seconds (like the blades coming out of the ground at some dwarven ruins)

I think this is great because otherwise the game would become to easy. Sure, it's out of balance but it keeps me from relaxing and helps me keep my guard up.

I often find Elder Dragons can be killed much quicker than Frost Dragons in my game while using unenchanted blades which i found a bit odd but atleast the leveling curve isn't as bad as guards in Oblivion, they became insanely powerfull at higher levels compared to other NPCs.

This, almost exactly. Enchanted a bunch of clothes with Shielding. Had the ring of Skimming, and a couple fortify speed/athletics spells, along with a regeneration over time spell. I think my record for closing an Oblivion gate was about 2-3 minutes from entry to grabbing the sigil. It just was NOT worth it to kill all the dremora and elementals and what not. I ran so fast, and just blitzed past everything to the point that unless I hit a dead end, nothing had a chance to attack me.

Kinda glad Skyrim didn't give us this many "tools" like Oblivion did. As for the trifecta of Alchemy-Enchanting-Smithing, I refuse to do it out of principle. Same goes for stun-locking with Destruction (still use the stun, but not abusing it). Shield Bashing I use (but not abuse), because it is just good fun and hilarious to stop a Dragon mid-breath while yelling "NO! BAD DRAGON!" at my TV.


I find with the harder enemies, (even as you're levelling) you need to think and plan your attack, and sometimes consider doing something you wouldn't normally. Is stealthing up an option? (Muffle is a cheap low level spell that can be cast with basically no points in illusion if armor/skill is an issue, alternatively Invisibility Potions) Do you have the charge perk for your two-handed to close the gap? Do you "circle-strafe" and "fool" mages? (Running towards them in a curve, then just before they cast suddenly move to the opposite direction) Do you have any duration potions that will give you a buff, maybe giving you the edge? Do you have resistance potions? Can you poison an arrow with paralysis, shoot one at the enemy, then run in to close the gap before they get back up? (Doesn't take much skill, other than aiming properly, bonus if archery is a secondary/primary skill of yours) If your restoration is being used and levelled, can you charge mages/stop dragon breath with Wards? Are you watching the Dragon as much as possible? (They usually have tells as to when they'll swoop in. I usually sprint perpendicular to their approach if there is no cover. Combine this with the charge power attack to cover more ground)

This is not criticism, just some alternate viewpoints that might give you ideas of how to surmount these challenges without potion spamming, and staying in your character's "character" as much as possible.

I agree however, that Block is practically God-Mode if you play it right. Nothing can touch you, and if they get within Shield reach, they generally die.

Overall I think Skyrim's difficulty curve is a bit of an improvement over previous titles.

Also, Two-Handed users are inherently weak defensively. Your only defense is more offense. Complaining about having defensive gaps, when you purposefully chose the route of the Barbarian seems a bit silly, no? You either need to fill those gaps with other skills (conjuration, restoration, archery, etc), or use items and your current skills more creatively to circumvent obstacles. ESPECIALLY on Master.

I agree.

The dificulty is messed up.

The enemies are too easy or too hard.

It's like this too easy. Then some insanely hard enemy appears.
And not in the way deathclaws etc are in Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas. A valid, vicious monster that rips everyone up in a balanced, hard but fun dificulty.
No, it's more completely out of sych with the rest of it. It's like they put all the dificulty from others into that one enemy.

Dificulties are better if if it's all hard, but fun. Like Kingdoms Of Amalur:Reckoning.
If it's hard, but not to the point it stops being fun, then it's good.

Having loads of easy enemies, including enemies that should'nt be easy, then a few insanely hard enemies is wrong.

Yes, I've run into this myself.

I play on adept and my current character is level 57 in full double-enchanted daedric armor.

As you mentioned, it's mostly a cakewalk but, every now and again an ancient dragon, mage or top dog type of falmer or briarheart will surprise me and quickly bring me to the brink of death or just outright kill me.

I think the "mostly a cakewalk" plays a part in this as I become accustomed to receiving little damage in fights and not having to pay much attention to the health meter and then ... bang.

I really don't mind this because it does keep things interesting and in the majority of cases where I get whacked, it's because I wasn't paying attention.

And it isn't entirely unrealistic ... kind of like in the real world where a big guy gets accustomed to pushing around little guys based on his height, weight, etc advantage ... then runs into a little guy who is a trained fighter.

Appearance-wise, the little guy might look no different than the little guys he's pushed around before however, the results of the encounter may not be what the big guy was, based on prior experience, expecting.

But don't you want there to be enemies that are still challenging? Do you want wolves and skeevers to keep leveling up to 81?

Talk about great timing! I just got done reading info on UESP regarding this very issue! Last night, I cleared out my level 47 game and restarted thinking it was bugged. Something felt off, and I thought it was because both archery and sneak were at 100 "too early" in the game, making some enemies just too powerful because of it.

The decision started with one of those accursed mages.

I was horsing it to Whiterun when all of a sudden, my horse squeals and dies. The attack was so powerful, the horse fell before I did, leaving me suspended, briefly, before coming to the ground.

"How dare you kill my horse!" and I whip out the Nightingale bow, draw, and fire and... what the heck? I barely scratched the witch! Okay, poor draw. Shot #2 yielded a scant movement in the red. Then, it happens. A bolt from her fingers and I'm back to the screen telling me about Skryim's Dark Elves. I didn't have a chance.

This wasn't the first time, either, and again, I always felt it was because my archery+sneak was "awesome".

Now that I know better...

Oh well. Restarting hasn't been that bad for me. I've managed level 5 in less than two hours thanks to my knowledge.

Briarheart. Yeah, I remember that piece of work. In the shack, just outside of Windhelm. I think it took 7 tries to finally put an arrow in the heart (sorry, the knee did nothing) of that one. Yeesh, a battle I just remembered I'm going to have to do again.

I will say this: the math of the attack power seems to include some magic, because to me, placing an arrow in an ebony bow will come about as close as putting an ebony arrow in a Falmer bow.

LOL. Wrong. One is definitely going to get you killed while the other just gives you a chance to potion up as the battle goes beyond two hits.

Aha,, level 47. Very close to the OP's. Here's the thing. By level 50, all of the enemies are maxed out but you still have 31 more levels to go. There are difficulty spikes depending on how you have leveled. Grind non-combat skills like smithing, enchanting, etc. and you'll hit a difficulty wall. Get yourself some better gear and train up combat/defense skills and you'll be back on top. This is especially true if you are leveled in the high 40's. You are about to crest the difficulty curve permanently.

You're not alone... I can get owned at lvl 52 by some of the same enemies you just quoted. I kind of like that though.

Wuld-Nah-Kest!

Nice to know. I'll definitely be keeping this in the back of my mind with my new game.

Most enemies are designed to be easy when you reach level 50. This is game design decision. You may not like it, but that's how it is. I don't particularly mind it, although it can get boring if you are not careful. Occasionally you meet hard enemies. Arch Pyromage is a Level 46 character. There is a boss type Arch Pyromage that's Level 50. If you are having consistently difficult time high level mages, it is possible to adjust your character so that you have easier time even at Master level. In my opinion, 50% magic resistance is not good enough to go against high level mage in Master level. If you increase it, you will find battles against magic users to be more manageable.

My understanding of your post is that you have 50% magic resistance, no elemental resistance, and 80% damage reduction from physical damage. Is that correct?

A blast from a Arch Pyromage in Master difficulty setting should have around 200 damage. With your 50% damage reduction, your health gets 100 damage. If your character has 300 health, this would kill your character in 3 hits. But If you have 80% magic resistance, it only does 40 damage, and your character will survive 7 hits. If your character has 90% magic/fire resistance, your character will survive 15 hits.

Protection against a magic user comes in 3 forms:

Magic Absorption 100% max
Magic Resistance 85% max
Elemental Resistance 85% max

With all three levels of magic protection, you can be completely immune to magic attacks, or have protection that's close to it. You just have to decide what level of magic protection you want, and what you are willing to give up for that.

Maybe they hit you with a critical.

Use the 'Become Ethereal' shout. I rarely even get hit by dragons now. Boss enemies on the other hand, a combination of stealth and a strong poisoned arrow usually work. If that doesn't bring them down, there is a world of spells and shouts to help you. My favorites being Ice Form and Fury/Calm spells.

I agree. I find an understanding of what enemies are going to be tough makes it easier plan accordingly.


I disagree. On my assassin (master) I had a tough time with high level mages and vampires. (I play the character out of stealth to change combat up) But then I tried to charge them and shout slow time and dual power attack. Now those fights are a lot easier. I changed my strategy. With my 2h warrior I learned to shout Ice Form then swing away, or take cover and pull out my hunting bow and coat it with paralyze poison, fire, then charge bashing with slow poison or paralyze again. Those poisons are abundant enough right after you leave the starting cave. Luckily powerful poisons are not dependant on alchemy level, so anyone can get a 4sec paralyze poison with starting level alchemy.

I will use this strategy in the early game. Say I have an Imperial and I just used his calm racial ability. After the fight I will "camp" for 24hrs to reset the ability so that I can use it again.

I see what you're saying about enemy difficulty spikes and I agree, especially with briar hearts. But I don't agree with the part about Skyrim not having strategy or not providing tools for difficult fights. It is what you make of it. Try not using any healing potions at all. This will force you to better prepare for difficult fights by using easy made/found poisons, shouts, restoration, and alteration (for increased armor and magic res... + paralyze and mass paralyze...yes please).