Sometimes NPC's can do this to you too. At certain levels there seems to be a jump in enemy strength and sometimes you just run into tough enemies no matter what. Save often, reload, and kick their behinds.


Everyone is quick to blame the crafting skills. And although this can be an issue I don't know if it the main problem here as the OP doesn't seem to be that far along in these skills. Your point on AR is probably a greater factor in his defeat. 60 enchanting, 33 smithing, 48 alchemy doesn't seem like he abused the crafting skills. At level 36 how much more naturally can you level them. Might be a bit of grinding, but not like he was at 100 in all three at level 20 or something.

Hired thugs!

They can be nasty, especially at lower levels. Some of the toughest ennemies you can meet.


EDIT: I always make sure to keep the contract they carry on them, and do take my revenge on whoever hired them.

I have a question, came in my mind after I read smth on this post.
Does the dificulty level matter when gaining experience and leveling up?
I mean, if a character plays at novice level, can he gain the same maximum level (if he manages to get 100 at every skill) , as another player that plays at master level?
I played at default level, I think it's "Adept" , and now I have 100 at every skill, and my level is 81. Obviously, I can't get anymore level up's...
Tnx

Honestly, did anyone else start singing "Ooga-shacka, Ooga-shacka, Ooga-ooga-ooga-shacka" when they clicked on this thread?

In lower levels my thief could get through a dungeon without taking one hit. Out in the world he would get owned by pretty much any troll, bear or bandit wielding a two hander.
This was on adept level and it felt like a fair trade off.

Now at level 60 on master difficulty... a master volkihar vampire have pretty much been the only creature that have posed any kind of threat lately. They do massive amount of damage, have great self healing, high awarness towards sneaking and a health pool that seems to be way higher than anything else I have encountered in the game.
I love them.

To op, yeah, it seems like you encountered one of the few really difficult enemies in the game. According to uesp the vampire you met would have been level 48 and can be an random encounter in the wild.


Nope... but now I am...

Ooga-shacka - Bjorn Skifs & The (Bla) Blueblues

Well, it seems they spawn quicker as you level.

• Master Vampire (Level: 14-42)(Level 42 is encountered when the player is level 31-38)

Throwing Reverant, Chain lightning and Ice Storm.

No wonder I died in one concentrated hit.

Anyone knows how strong their thralls are?

My opinion is based because his skills when they started off were 15, 20 or 25. So 33 smithing, 60 enchanting and 48 alchemy do mean he has put a decent amount of effort into them.

And with two other main skills (sneak and archery) and one handed used now and again
So in other words, 50% of the skills he uses do not directly contribute to making him a more defensive character. I am assured that we both know what happens when you level too quickly. The fact that he is using three crafting skills in moderation, rather than overusing one of them, just means that he can blame the effect on three rather than one.

I know it is almost sacrilegious, but you may want to consider training for your armor type (presumably light).

It's odd how different playstyles result in extremely different difficulty levels. I have an Altmer mage, a Bosmer archer, an Argonian shield + sword user and a Nord two-handed greatsword user, and they all seem to face pretty realistic opponents. They're all around lv 30. The mage is the weakest, I think, he uses conjuration and destruction but often runs out of magicka before all opponents are dead. He can still handle most threats though.

But the weird thing is, I also have a Khajiit swordsman at level 34 who dual-wields swords and he's practically invincible. He's skilled at one-handed so his swords do some good damage by themselves, but the dual-wielding power attack is insane. Frost Trolls, normal Dragons, Draugr Deathlords, they all die by one power attack. He has enough stamina to do three power attacks in a row, so go figure. With this character I beat a certain main quest enemy at the top of a mountain with just two or three of these power attacks, so the fight was over in about ten seconds. I'm being vague to avoid spoiling the story, of course.

It just amazes me how much overpowered this dual wielding thing is compared to other playstyles. Great fun though, everyone should definitely try it sometime.

You need heavy armor for your mage. Why? There's absolutely no penalty for wearing it. And of course if you're a mage, you already have your enchant skill up. Sooooo win/win.

One of my characters is a sneaky archer. Here are a few tips that might help: Always travel with a follower. Any one of the housecarls is good. Equip them with the most badass heavy armor and weapons (and boots enchanted with muffle). Don't travel at night because there are more vampires and warlocks at that time. Save often; I save every 15-30 seconds when on the road. Sometimes in an ambush when you are overpowered you have to use invisibility potion and run away then sneak back. Meanwhile your follower is tanking for you and distracting your enemies. Use paralysis potion on your bow against the toughest enemies because if you can't kill them in one shot, it helps to paralyze them. Light armor should be fine on your character, more important is making your bow do the most damage possible. Enchant five pieces of apparel with fortify archery. Put all your perks into archery and sneak until they are maxed out. Also into Conjuration if you are using the bound bow, which I recommend. Consider leveling up Illusion because the Calm spell can make animals and assassins back off, and Frenzy is fun to use on groups. My archer lets her follower fight the inevitable thieves and db assassins met on the road.

That happens all too often, and is awful programming. You should never be allowed to be attacked by anything while you are grabbed and force-locked into a quest conversation against your will. Or a friggin courier- they are just as bad. Had one run up behind me yesterday and lock me into a convo while I was just getting into bad-odds fight out in the open. A simple cure for that, would be to prevent ANY NPC from being able to force-grab you into a convo while you are in combat with anything, and also force them to automatically drop their convo's (without penalty and be able to start over from where they left off after the coast is clear) if anything attacks you while they are talking to you.