Now that I've played Dragon's Dogma, I think I'm ready to try Skryim at a higher difficulty level

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Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
I know it seems like just a comment, but, please bear with me.

I have always been risk adverse when it comes to Skyrim, rarely, if ever playing above Adept unless I'm wanting to make a particular foe seem more realistic (i.e. Dragons I always move them to Master of Legendary - Hey! They're dragons! They're not supposed to be easy!).

One of my issues with Dragon's Dogma was that, even on the easiest setting, it was insanely difficult and deadly in so many incidences. Now, having played through it and realizing that I needed to hone my methods, use strategy and work as a team with partners, I've come to realize that, a challenge is often a good thing. The rush of being able to take down an insanely powerful boss through teamwork and strategy just can't be beat.

I have started a Khajit no weapon build on adept, but am considering moving up in difficulty and creating an Altmer.

Have any of you brought experience you have from other games to Skyrim and higher difficulty levels?

Do any of you have strategy advice? (I know about followers, but am always sneaky and use a lot of destruction, illusion and conjurations so have trouble finding appropriate ones!).

Thoughts anyone?
 

General Charles Xander

General of the 11th Imperial Legion
Beware the Mudcrabs on Legendary...:eek:
Until you get to enchanting 100, it's going to be rough.
About a follower, use Lydia. YES YES I KNOW IT'S LYDIA, but she has a trait no other follower has. She will use any bow along with any arrow. (Though I'm not sure if that applies to a upgraded bow..). That's if you want a long ranged follower. Also if you want to fix her health so that she is not weak, do not obtain her as a follower until a later level. The higher your level is when you first meet her, the higher her health.

Finally if you want a great walkthrough and/or some great tips and help, I would watch MajorSlackAttack. He's very funny and provides great pointers. :)
Hope this helped!
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
Beware the Mudcrabs on Legendary...:eek:
Until you get to enchanting 100, it's going to be rough.
About a follower, use Lydia. YES YES I KNOW IT'S LYDIA, but she has a trait no other follower has. She will use any bow along with any arrow. (Though I'm not sure if that applies to a upgraded bow..). That's if you want a long ranged follower. Also if you want to fix her health so that she is not weak, do not obtain her as a follower until a later level. The higher your level is when you first meet her, the higher her health.

Finally if you want a great walkthrough and/or some great tips and help, I would watch MajorSlackAttack. He's very funny and provides great pointers. :)
Hope this helped!
Thank you! I will do that. I simply have to try running SR at a far higher difficulty than Adept just to try it out. If it's too much on Legendary, I can pull it back to Master until I'm better at it.
 

General Charles Xander

General of the 11th Imperial Legion
Beware the Mudcrabs on Legendary...:eek:
Until you get to enchanting 100, it's going to be rough.
About a follower, use Lydia. YES YES I KNOW IT'S LYDIA, but she has a trait no other follower has. She will use any bow along with any arrow. (Though I'm not sure if that applies to a upgraded bow..). That's if you want a long ranged follower. Also if you want to fix her health so that she is not weak, do not obtain her as a follower until a later level. The higher your level is when you first meet her, the higher her health.

Finally if you want a great walkthrough and/or some great tips and help, I would watch MajorSlackAttack. He's very funny and provides great pointers. :)
Hope this helped!
Thank you! I will do that. I simply have to try running SR at a far higher difficulty than Adept just to try it out. If it's too much on Legendary, I can pull it back to Master until I'm better at it.
You're welcome!

But seriously.....the Mudcrabs, don't piss them off. @-@
 

Lewsean

Member
Like Charles said, make sure you have a follower at all times(You don't need to take them at a high level anymore, if you have skyrim 1.9+ they level with you) I also like to give them leech weapon(s) so they hardly ever go into that idle stance. I also prefer using a sword/board build when playing Legendary, stagger is extremely useful on mobs that do really high damage. I also carry loads of Stamina potions so I never get left without a stun or power attack(Power attacks/stamina are more important than health imo) Erik the Slayer is a good follower to get, he's a barbarian class with good archery so you get the best of both worlds.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
Like Charles said, make sure you have a follower at all times(You don't need to take them at a high level anymore, if you have skyrim 1.9+ they level with you) I also like to give them leech weapon(s) so they hardly ever go into that idle stance. I also prefer using a sword/board build when playing Legendary, stagger is extremely useful on mobs that do really high damage. I also carry loads of Stamina potions so I never get left without a stun or power attack(Power attacks/stamina are more important than health imo) Erik the Slayer is a good follower to get, he's a barbarian class with good archery so you get the best of both worlds.
Good suggestion. I like Erik more than Lydia as well.

I had intended to play more as a spellsword as I am much more a sneak and distance kill kind of guy, even on lower levels. Dual wield daggers and spells.

Thoughts?
 

General Charles Xander

General of the 11th Imperial Legion
Like Charles said, make sure you have a follower at all times(You don't need to take them at a high level anymore, if you have skyrim 1.9+ they level with you) I also like to give them leech weapon(s) so they hardly ever go into that idle stance. I also prefer using a sword/board build when playing Legendary, stagger is extremely useful on mobs that do really high damage. I also carry loads of Stamina potions so I never get left without a stun or power attack(Power attacks/stamina are more important than health imo) Erik the Slayer is a good follower to get, he's a barbarian class with good archery so you get the best of both worlds.
Good suggestion. I like Erik more than Lydia as well.

I had intended to play more as a spellsword as I am much more a sneak and distance kill kind of guy, even on lower levels. Dual wield daggers and spells.

Thoughts?
I merely suggested Lydia due to her rare ability. Also if you want sneaky kills, then Kajhiit have 15+ bonus beginning skill in archery, as well as sneak.
 

Lewsean

Member
Like Charles said, make sure you have a follower at all times(You don't need to take them at a high level anymore, if you have skyrim 1.9+ they level with you) I also like to give them leech weapon(s) so they hardly ever go into that idle stance. I also prefer using a sword/board build when playing Legendary, stagger is extremely useful on mobs that do really high damage. I also carry loads of Stamina potions so I never get left without a stun or power attack(Power attacks/stamina are more important than health imo) Erik the Slayer is a good follower to get, he's a barbarian class with good archery so you get the best of both worlds.
Good suggestion. I like Erik more than Lydia as well.

I had intended to play more as a spellsword as I am much more a sneak and distance kill kind of guy, even on lower levels. Dual wield daggers and spells.

Thoughts?
Alteration for sure, Paralyze is very, very useful. Basically you need to have some sort of CC on Legendary regardless of what character type you play. Block for Melee, Stagger for Bows, Paralyze/Illusion for the Spellsword type etc etc. If you play PC there is a mod for Erik the Slayer that levels him from 10-80, gives him some decents sneak perks and stops him from getting you detected when Sneaking, though if you don't have a PC I'd suggest using a frost atronauch as a tank aggro puller.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
Like Charles said, make sure you have a follower at all times(You don't need to take them at a high level anymore, if you have skyrim 1.9+ they level with you) I also like to give them leech weapon(s) so they hardly ever go into that idle stance. I also prefer using a sword/board build when playing Legendary, stagger is extremely useful on mobs that do really high damage. I also carry loads of Stamina potions so I never get left without a stun or power attack(Power attacks/stamina are more important than health imo) Erik the Slayer is a good follower to get, he's a barbarian class with good archery so you get the best of both worlds.
Good suggestion. I like Erik more than Lydia as well.

I had intended to play more as a spellsword as I am much more a sneak and distance kill kind of guy, even on lower levels. Dual wield daggers and spells.

Thoughts?
I merely suggested Lydia due to her rare ability. Also if you want sneaky kills, then Kajhiit have 15+ bonus beginning skill in archery, as well as sneak.
Sorry. I didn't mean to sound snippy. I just have a history with Lyd's, and it's not good. :) To much cheating, using her as a babysitter, ignoring her needs... Now I feel guilty. :)
 

TheNatural

Active Member
I'm on my second master/legendary playthrough right now, I would highly suggest focusing on one school of magic, or one area of combat to begin with, so you can really do some damage. Sneak is also incredibly important, getting to that x15 dagger bonus is key. You'll find you will be in trouble if you are firing arrows off in first in most situations, because they will see you, and find you, and then promptly wail on you. Magic scaling in unmodded skyrim makes for a challenge on higher difficulties. I have never heard of folks getting too far on master/legendary playthroughs with a magic heavy builds, the reason being, is it stops scaling like other abilities. Once you get to the master level of a spell, that's it, you have reached the pinnacle. Unlike, say, archery, where you will find/create more powerful weapons, which will also grow in strength as you level that skill up. As far as I know, a novice flames spell will hit for the same amount no matter how high the destruction skill.

If you look at legenday let's play videos, 99% use stealth, 1h, and archery builds. Full on sword and board melee builds are also really tough, and most who get trhough on really high difficulties hit the armor cap by level 10 and by level 15-20 are regenerating health at an obnoxious rate. Pop the difficulty up to Legendary, and go try to waltz into embershard or bleak falls barrow with early heavy armor and a sword and shield. The results aren't pretty.

That being said, once you get smithing up there, and have some decent enchants, the game gets pretty easy regardless of the difficulty level. On my level 49 sneak archer, I have the difficulty up to legendary, and with the sneak bonus and an ebony bow, I can almost one shot a giant with a bow, and I haven't done any exploits either.

Right now, my sneaky assassin is level 19, and I've been playing master since the start. I'm going solo at the moment, and just flat out avoiding tough enemies in caves and dungeons, but my archery, and 1h are high, and my sneak is great as well, so If I'm patient, with the x15 bonus, I can actually one shot most enemies with a nice sneak attack. That being said, I have only worked on archery, sneak, and smithing thus far, with a little enchanting here and there. Nothing else. The only reason my 1h has grown, is out of necessity, as a light armor wearer, I need to be able to silently kill unavoidable tough enemies, or I'm toast.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
I'm on my second master/legendary playthrough right now, I would highly suggest focusing on one school of magic, or one area of combat to begin with, so you can really do some damage. Sneak is also incredibly important, getting to that x15 dagger bonus is key. You'll find you will be in trouble if you are firing arrows off in first in most situations, because they will see you, and find you, and then promptly wail on you. Magic scaling in unmodded skyrim makes for a challenge on higher difficulties. I have never heard of folks getting too far on master/legendary playthroughs with a magic heavy builds, the reason being, is it stops scaling like other abilities. Once you get to the master level of a spell, that's it, you have reached the pinnacle. Unlike, say, archery, where you will find/create more powerful weapons, which will also grow in strength as you level that skill up. As far as I know, a novice flames spell will hit for the same amount no matter how high the destruction skill.

If you look at legenday let's play videos, 99% use stealth, 1h, and archery builds. Full on sword and board melee builds are also really tough, and most who get trhough on really high difficulties hit the armor cap by level 10 and by level 15-20 are regenerating health at an obnoxious rate. Pop the difficulty up to Legendary, and go try to waltz into embershard or bleak falls barrow with early heavy armor and a sword and shield. The results aren't pretty.

That being said, once you get smithing up there, and have some decent enchants, the game gets pretty easy regardless of the difficulty level. On my level 49 sneak archer, I have the difficulty up to legendary, and with the sneak bonus and an ebony bow, I can almost one shot a giant with a bow, and I haven't done any exploits either.

Right now, my sneaky assassin is level 19, and I've been playing master since the start. I'm going solo at the moment, and just flat out avoiding tough enemies in caves and dungeons, but my archery, and 1h are high, and my sneak is great as well, so If I'm patient, with the x15 bonus, I can actually one shot most enemies with a nice sneak attack. That being said, I have only worked on archery, sneak, and smithing thus far, with a little enchanting here and there. Nothing else. The only reason my 1h has grown, is out of necessity, as a light armor wearer, I need to be able to silently kill unavoidable tough enemies, or I'm toast.
For the first run through on these difficulties, would it be wise to start out at adept and increase the difficulty every 10 levels? I've never done SR on Master or Legendary on anything but upping it on some major bosses.
 

TheNatural

Active Member
I'm on my second master/legendary playthrough right now, I would highly suggest focusing on one school of magic, or one area of combat to begin with, so you can really do some damage. Sneak is also incredibly important, getting to that x15 dagger bonus is key. You'll find you will be in trouble if you are firing arrows off in first in most situations, because they will see you, and find you, and then promptly wail on you. Magic scaling in unmodded skyrim makes for a challenge on higher difficulties. I have never heard of folks getting too far on master/legendary playthroughs with a magic heavy builds, the reason being, is it stops scaling like other abilities. Once you get to the master level of a spell, that's it, you have reached the pinnacle. Unlike, say, archery, where you will find/create more powerful weapons, which will also grow in strength as you level that skill up. As far as I know, a novice flames spell will hit for the same amount no matter how high the destruction skill.

If you look at legenday let's play videos, 99% use stealth, 1h, and archery builds. Full on sword and board melee builds are also really tough, and most who get trhough on really high difficulties hit the armor cap by level 10 and by level 15-20 are regenerating health at an obnoxious rate. Pop the difficulty up to Legendary, and go try to waltz into embershard or bleak falls barrow with early heavy armor and a sword and shield. The results aren't pretty.

That being said, once you get smithing up there, and have some decent enchants, the game gets pretty easy regardless of the difficulty level. On my level 49 sneak archer, I have the difficulty up to legendary, and with the sneak bonus and an ebony bow, I can almost one shot a giant with a bow, and I haven't done any exploits either.

Right now, my sneaky assassin is level 19, and I've been playing master since the start. I'm going solo at the moment, and just flat out avoiding tough enemies in caves and dungeons, but my archery, and 1h are high, and my sneak is great as well, so If I'm patient, with the x15 bonus, I can actually one shot most enemies with a nice sneak attack. That being said, I have only worked on archery, sneak, and smithing thus far, with a little enchanting here and there. Nothing else. The only reason my 1h has grown, is out of necessity, as a light armor wearer, I need to be able to silently kill unavoidable tough enemies, or I'm toast.
For the first run through on these difficulties, would it be wise to start out at adept and increase the difficulty every 10 levels? I've never done SR on Master or Legendary on anything but upping it on some major bosses.

The advantage of starting off on a higher difficulty is that the disadvantage makes you adapt quickly. If you want a consistent difficult experience that isn't overwhelming, start on expert and then increase the difficulty every 10 levels or so. Even with a focused strong build, a wispmother popping up on master difficulty at level 15 is probably going to kill you unless you have really strong potions and poisons.

I also should have mentioned that if you powerlevel magic early on, you can out-scale the enemies and have an easier time, especially with a tank-y follower, but later on it takes forever to kill stuff, and it's annoying.
 

Dr.Madness

Overlord of the Void
For me, I'm generally a devout magic user, I find melee classes (excluding Spell-Swords) to be boring at times. If you plan on using magic try Conjuration and/or followers that have their own summons. Permanent summons (such as Dead or Storm Thrall) are generally the most useful. On Master and Legendary just put points into Conjuration, Illusion, and Restoration (Maybe some in Alteration or Destruction if you so desire). Your thralls absorb damage that would otherwise destroy you (such as the satellite orbiting of the giants) and deal it on your behalf while you either watch with a restoration spell in one hand, or rain down Destruction spells while your foes are distracted. Of course using just regular timed summons (Atronachs, Dremora) works as well. The first Conjuration Spell I level for is Conjure Dremora Lord, but if you aren't power leveling conjuration (or really don't care for it) you could craft a Staff of Frost Atronach at the Atronach Forge for yourself and a follower (Lydia was suggested in the above posts) or complete a Night to Remember for the Sanguine Rose.

Back to Dragon's Dogma, I think I've logged more hours into that game then Skyrim (which is saying something). I found in the beginning bosses such as the Chimaera will utterly destroy you. However once you get your character and main pawn to 60+ then those days become a thing of the past. (Unless you are at Bitterblack Isles). Right now my character is a level 137 Assassin (with some Mystic Knight, Magic Archer, and Sorcerer experience) and my main pawn has is level 136 and has been a Fighter since level 1. Needless to say I can kill Damion (the end boss of Bitterblack Isle, which comes with the Dark Arisen DLC) in about 10-15 seconds (Climb onto his head, consume 10 conqueror periapts, and spam Dire Gouge, it stun locks him as well as doing great damage). Second Form Daimon depends, I have t wait for the perfect opportunity to climb onto he face on his chest before trying the same strategy I used for First Form Daimon. The only bosses that still trouble me are Gorecyclops and Death.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
For me, I'm generally a devout magic user, I find melee classes (excluding Spell-Swords) to be boring at times. If you plan on using magic try Conjuration and/or followers that have their own summons. Permanent summons (such as Dead or Storm Thrall) are generally the most useful. On Master and Legendary just put points into Conjuration, Illusion, and Restoration (Maybe some in Alteration or Destruction if you so desire). Your thralls absorb damage that would otherwise destroy you (such as the satellite orbiting of the giants) and deal it on your behalf while you either watch with a restoration spell in one hand, or rain down Destruction spells while your foes are distracted. Of course using just regular timed summons (Atronachs, Dremora) works as well. The first Conjuration Spell I level for is Conjure Dremora Lord, but if you aren't power leveling conjuration (or really don't care for it) you could craft a Staff of Frost Atronach at the Atronach Forge for yourself and a follower (Lydia was suggested in the above posts) or complete a Night to Remember for the Sanguine Rose.

Back to Dragon's Dogma, I think I've logged more hours into that game then Skyrim (which is saying something). I found in the beginning bosses such as the Chimaera will utterly destroy you. However once you get your character and main pawn to 60+ then those days become a thing of the past. (Unless you are at Bitterblack Isles). Right now my character is a level 137 Assassin (with some Mystic Knight, Magic Archer, and Sorcerer experience) and my main pawn has is level 136 and has been a Fighter since level 1. Needless to say I can kill Damion (the end boss of Bitterblack Isle, which comes with the Dark Arisen DLC) in about 10-15 seconds (Climb onto his head, consume 10 conqueror periapts, and spam Dire Gouge, it stun locks him as well as doing great damage). Second Form Daimon depends, I have t wait for the perfect opportunity to climb onto he face on his chest before trying the same strategy I used for First Form Daimon. The only bosses that still trouble me are Gorecyclops and Death.
About level 40 now (both of us). Have to keep trading up pawns. Have barely explored anything. Too many quests and assignments to deal with. Hard to RP.
 

AS88

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I know it seems like just a comment, but, please bear with me.

I have always been risk adverse when it comes to Skyrim, rarely, if ever playing above Adept unless I'm wanting to make a particular foe seem more realistic (i.e. Dragons I always move them to Master of Legendary - Hey! They're dragons! They're not supposed to be easy!).

One of my issues with Dragon's Dogma was that, even on the easiest setting, it was insanely difficult and deadly in so many incidences. Now, having played through it and realizing that I needed to hone my methods, use strategy and work as a team with partners, I've come to realize that, a challenge is often a good thing. The rush of being able to take down an insanely powerful boss through teamwork and strategy just can't be beat.

I have started a Khajit no weapon build on adept, but am considering moving up in difficulty and creating an Altmer.

Have any of you brought experience you have from other games to Skyrim and higher difficulty levels?

Do any of you have strategy advice? (I know about followers, but am always sneaky and use a lot of destruction, illusion and conjurations so have trouble finding appropriate ones!).

Thoughts anyone?
HOORAY :p
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
I know it seems like just a comment, but, please bear with me.

I have always been risk adverse when it comes to Skyrim, rarely, if ever playing above Adept unless I'm wanting to make a particular foe seem more realistic (i.e. Dragons I always move them to Master of Legendary - Hey! They're dragons! They're not supposed to be easy!).

One of my issues with Dragon's Dogma was that, even on the easiest setting, it was insanely difficult and deadly in so many incidences. Now, having played through it and realizing that I needed to hone my methods, use strategy and work as a team with partners, I've come to realize that, a challenge is often a good thing. The rush of being able to take down an insanely powerful boss through teamwork and strategy just can't be beat.

I have started a Khajit no weapon build on adept, but am considering moving up in difficulty and creating an Altmer.

Have any of you brought experience you have from other games to Skyrim and higher difficulty levels?

Do any of you have strategy advice? (I know about followers, but am always sneaky and use a lot of destruction, illusion and conjurations so have trouble finding appropriate ones!).

Thoughts anyone?
HOORAY :p
Since I'm trying Dead is Dead as well, I still haven't made it out of Helgen on Master. It's depressing. 9 characters! I really do have to learn to stay behind Hadvar and leave the Torturer's assistant alive. On the plus side, at least the bear can actually kill you now. Sneak is VERY important. Fury really helps!
 

TheNatural

Active Member
It autosaves right after you make your character, if I recall correctly. So loading would be much faster. Also, you can boost your sneak stat by staying in the house you jump into after Alduin's head crashes through the wall of the tower. Just get to the bottom floor and and crouch, then just keep moving around in little circles, it will help you once you get inside. If you are choosing to go master from the very start, you are going to need to stay out of most fights, for the most part, Hadvar or Ralof won't fall to their knees, and some rooms are just death, like the Torturer room, for instance.

It may feel "dirty" to use the little stealth trick, and ones like that while playing, but the fact is, a certain amount of that is needed when playing early on. I think of it as "clever use of game mechanics" rather than a straight up exploit like the Faendal (sp?) archery bug. Getting up whatever skills you can is really important early on as well, the rule of thumb for the first 15-20 levels that I've been following is: Perks>>>>>>>Actual skill points. Getting that first point or two in stealth is huge, as well as the first couple in whatever mode of combat you have decided on. Personally, my first 2 go into stealth, then Archery until I get the backstab bonus, then it's a priority system for me that is Stealth>>Archery=1h or Destro (if that's your choice).

One last thing, Fury is invaluable, but be extremely careful when using it on a dead-is-dead playthrough. I have pulled far more than I normally would have when the combatants I have pitted against one another decide to run all over the place.
 

TheNatural

Active Member
I have another thing to add, as this seems to be the go-to difficulty thread for now.

My sneak archer that I started on master and made a thread about has become a Demi-God in the mid-50s. At the moment my bow (with my archery gear on) is sitting at ~330 Damage + Absorb and Fire enchants, and with my 1h jewelry my daggers are in the ~150 region. I have had to permanently turn the difficulty up to legendary. I decided to do this after one shotting a giant with a sneak shot using a freaking dwarven arrow. I believe at the moment my Armor is over the cap, at 591, but on legendary, some stuff is still hitting me very hard. I think if I made another set of armor and added +healing rate to as much as I could, and +health to the rest, alongside the enchants I have now legendary really wouldn't be a problem at this level.

I'm not even using top of the line weapons at the moment. It doesn't feel cheap, though, I suffered through a long period of barely surviving, it's about time my toon got to dish out the pain.
 

Pete

Well-Known Member
I say start out with master difficulty. These things help me out.

  • I don't spam potions. Only a few are allowed during a battle. If I must use more, I will run away from the battle first -- seems more realistic
  • If I need to sneak and have a follower, I make the follower wait nearby or even outside a cave until I've sized up the situation, etc... That way they don't blow my sneak attack.
  • Staffs are very helpful. A good staff is a great way to allow time for magica to refresh
  • Wards and the restoration school really takes on a whole new dimension - so much so it gains respect :rolleyes:
  • If an opponent gets stuck behind something (aka clitch), I move so that they aren't stuck anymore
  • Some of the less used shouts really take on new importance - like the calm animals, etc...
Enjoy and take your time
 

ColleenG

When in doubt, follow the fox.
Beware the Mudcrabs on Legendary...:eek:
Until you get to enchanting 100, it's going to be rough.
About a follower, use Lydia. YES YES I KNOW IT'S LYDIA, but she has a trait no other follower has. She will use any bow along with any arrow. (Though I'm not sure if that applies to a upgraded bow..). That's if you want a long ranged follower. Also if you want to fix her health so that she is not weak, do not obtain her as a follower until a later level. The higher your level is when you first meet her, the higher her health.

Finally if you want a great walkthrough and/or some great tips and help, I would watch MajorSlackAttack. He's very funny and provides great pointers. :)
Hope this helped!

Wait, what? Lots of followers use bows. I equip them with dragonbone bows and daedric arrows.
 

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