UESP Forums

So im atemting to get back in Skyrim after long time, trayed before but hope it will stick this time. Need some feed back on Legendary difficulty. What i noticed mostly is huge damge on player, i dont minde if i do less damage just have hard time convincing my self its wort playing like that.
Master difficulty whas fun, legendarty tho sims wery of balance. Im still to play all DLC so i figure to give it a trie but now im not realy sure it will comply with my stule. I dont use trainers, gliches, falovers and awoid leveling thigs randomly so it sims this wont realy make mach of fun loking how your character develop.
Sure thing i can abuse legendary skills, crafting skills, trade, trainers and never live towns until im like God mode and level 200. it is definetly duable to beet it easy inaff tho is this realy a way to go abouth difficulty scaling?

I figure legendary seting will resolt in so many one shots, last i whant is to start save scaming so thats also a problem. I remember Forsworn Briarheart one shot my sumoned dremora, deathlord archer almost one shot my character in heavy armor and blocking whit 600HP on master dificulty. There is a fine line in all of this.
Im still gona trie to play it but i just whant some honest opinions is it wort playing on this setings or are they just crusher of dreems with no realy balance to be had ever?
Considering brawling, alchemy poisons and similar things that luse appel with this scaling im not realy impresed tho i whana hear expiriance of others, is it just silly or rewarding. Not realy whanted to make to make emty post but i whana know how silly this thing gona be.

I've only had 2 builds that I felt comfortable with on Legendary: full tank (heavy armor, block, Alteration, Resto, one-hand) and Sniper (Archery, sneak, Light armor, Illusion, and Destruction for Runes) with conjuration/blacksmithing/enchanting are must for both (some encounters are so much easier if you just reanimate a random corpse to kick off a battle).
But both were pretty rough until later levels with the tank being severely limited until I got enough stamina to consistently block and still had problems with using the terrain to lure enemies into range and Draugr that Fus Ro Da you into the next hold (more a problem if there are more than one of them so you can't time yours to set them off balance). The Sniper's biggest problem was if the first shot is screwed up whether it be arrow or frenzy you're just done for, curl up in a ball and hide, hope you have invisibility and a good sneak skill, and pray that the boogie man doesn't gnaw at the door.

I genuinely gave up on many characters because certain boss npcs or large encounters just became frustrating until I focused on Alchemy. Whether it be just having some back up health pots or that extra bit of damage from poison or paralyzing a single enemy for but a moment, it really has an impact, particularly when you're forced to hide behind your shield or run away.

As for the fun, if you enjoyed Master difficulty it's not that big of a hurdle, just a little more thought has to go into tackling encounters and every boon you can get, you have to take

Hey.

I play Skyrim on Legendary with 'dead is dead' rules and really enjoy it. I think it depends on your playstyle and what you want from the game though. imo Legendary suits a kind of 'Stealth Ranger' gameplay really well.

You need to be happy with the following:
Running away from melee fights.
Taking the time to sneak around to scope out enemy positions.
Doing a certain amount of 'stealth shot then hide until enemy de-aggros - repeat until enemy is dead'.
Making a plan on how to optimise stealth attack damage.
Running away from melee fights.
Not being able to reliably clear dungeons until... level 30 or so.
Not being able to fight dragons by yourself until... level 40 or so.
Using Smithing-Alchemy-Enchanting together.
Running away from melee fights.
Making sure you've got enough Health and Stamina potions.
Using poisons and Fortify potions.
Not going *anywhere* without an escape route planned out.
Not being able to explore most of the game before level 35.
And oh yes - you'll need to RUN AWAY FROM MELEE FIGHTS a lot.

Basically up to level 15 you need to be extremely careful anywhere you go and run away from your own shadow.
From level 15 to 40 you become a 'glass cannon' and need to pick your fights carefully.
From about level 40 or so you can get stuck in with adventuring, melee fights and whatever you want.
If you use Smithing-Alchemy-Enchanting together you will eventually become unstoppable but it will take a while.

Personally I find that it makes a satisfying and very epic story, working my way up from fragile nobody to mega-Hero - but it does take a while to happen. So it's not for everyone, for sure.

Anyway, if that sounds like the sort of game you might like then give it a go.
Cheers

(*Level numbers are rough guess from memory)

I figure the part wher you accept to be 'mortal" and need to run away if your plan does not worck out that mach is clear on legendary difficulty. I run cople of level 20 character then i feelt like i cheeted or simply feelt my progres whas some how unatural. What become of such character is besicly alredy writen. Its so easy to get lost in crafting or grinding the gold not realasing you usles speech or craft skills are way ahead of your combat skills.

My curent plan is to go with conjuration for obvious resons and go for conjuring bow soon as posible tho it sims just using summon spell dont realy do nothing for leveling i noticed so this need to change.
Ilusion for silent casting and all the advantage i can get, ligh armor for stamina and speed. Archery ofcors with sumoning bow.
Smiting to keep up to elven armor and when i can afor up to advanced armor so to keep my leveling att resonable until i unlock ability to temper magic item if ever. Enchanting i mostly consider on higer levels of 40+, mostly cuting mid rute for skills and stats enchants but game does gve dicent items for quest like markart prison escape and if you travel a loot you can have more rewarding oportunities.
Sneak skill i still gona figure, mostly bow crit tho such skill is hard to control its nothing on its own for long time and i trie to awoid investing peark early, keeping distance dont need mach from it and ilusion help so it may be mistake but when you need a perks its choice i make.

What i noticed is the need for solid standing stone, atronach is realy nice with breton but risky to get to and there is plenty others, summoning dont realy go well with absorbing ability but its realy strong when you realy need it. I dont consider to bee·line to things like this unles i finde it from books and its on my way, if its not resonable i wont force it.
Skill bosting stones dont realy do well for me, conjuratin goes realy slow and i supose its becouse of how i play so i need to change something to get faster to conjuring bow and that will get me going easy mod then, probably more rise dead and soul trap inseted of summoning atronach.

For melee i chosen 2H, like i see it alternative is way more invested and i just can aford to dominate in all skills. Its not briliant but its cheep from damage poit and with some bashing perks late game or some destruction sinery for geting targets to low life so to kill them fast. You need some melee and you cant always aford safest option, just a calculated sacrifice.

I whas also considered using pickpocket for aditional carry weight and reverse pickpocketing poisons tho im not sure how effective poisons are, if this is usable i prefer it becouse i have not used this before. So having alchemy will be justified tho i douth its sutable eraly game compered to resoration. If i am to use atronach stone restoration mana regeneration will be realy handy and may pearks ther are realy acesable and quality of life but its all mostly high level stuff if you puth it on paper, evry peark have its price.

Mentioning my preferance gona have mach with how to aproach devoleping such character, do specific guilds quest or randomly traveling or adventuring. Its advisable to not keep focuse on one skill for to long and that often hapen, unvanted progres is bane of low levels.
There is not intension from my side to play like a robot ofcors, but i do trie to awod such things and awoid rutine that can get me in such a mess.

Apart of my regual skills im not certain of alchemy and restoration.
Poisons dont realy do mach and are not usualy damage ower time with some magnitude if penalty from difficulty apply to them, does same thing apply to reverse pickpocketing poisons? Stealt is realy intresting but im not sure if game setings ruing this option.

Im mostly worided to get to my feet, geting honest 30 or so levels or even 40 until you can experiment is not easy if you whant to awoid certain things.
Usualy i accept falowers just to cary my loot but this things get out of hand easy, its not like it make big difrance on some scenarios but its fake and when they go down its same as if you died. Its understandable to use them i gess becouse its not easy to control them so its not all briliant. I will trie to limit it to traveling and towns so to use them for their purpose of body guard and not like a meet shield.
I decided to not fast travel for sure and this just may worck.

Trainers are also some how temting for me, not sure what is the catch with them but it may not be bad if only for main skill use so you dont go wild and realise it to late. Problem with gold and towns is they tend to level you so fast, and needing gold for such things gona do just that. But ocasional training of main skill may not be a problem if you dont go out of your way to do so.

Well this is realy long post alredy, considering my english expertise its to mach to take in. If you got some fine point on what i say here or something to add i apriciate it.

I personally haven't ever played on anything other than normal difficulty, but this sounds like a lot of fun. I may try it next time I play Skyrim.

Cool. Give it a go, and let us know how you get on...

---

@Siken

Regarding Trainers, Standing Stones and Skill Levels: I tend to see Legendary as a kind of 'Arms Race' where you need to have a plan that prioritises those skills that are going to keep you alive. I would definitely recommend making maximum use of Trainers - and the Skill Stones are sometimes very good for giving you a boost at the start of the game so you can snag those crucial perks faster.

I start off like this:

My first objective is to get the x3 Sneak Attack bonus for the Bow (requiring Sneak 40) so I pick up the Thief Stone and go bother the Bandits around Whiterun. I will buy some Archery training if I can.

Then about level 10 I switch over to the Warrior Stone to boost Smithing up to 90 for Daedric weapons. For the next 15-20 levels I am basically making loads and loads of Dwarven Bows (from Dwemer metal bits robbed from ruins) and Jewellery (from 'Iron Ore' - if you know what I mean), and selling them to buy Smithing training. I also visit an Inn for the Well Rested bonus. The plan is to have at least a Legendary Ebony Bow for the first Dragon fight at level 26. If I'm lucky it might even be Daedric.

Shortly after that I get the Steed Stone - mainly for the extra carrying capacity but weightless armour is also useful - and I stick with that for the rest of the game. Light Armour will be the skill I train next (up to 75 I think) - and this is a skill that needs a Trainer because it's just far too dangerous to use live combat to raise it up.

According to my notes at Level 25 my last character had these skills:
Combat: Smithing 84 - 15 - 20 - 25 - 25 - Archery 52
Stealth: 21 - Sneak 72 - 25 - 15 - Speech 36 - 25
Magic: 16 - 16 - 15 - 16 - Alteration 30 - Enchanting 45
^
You see I've done my best to stick with only 3 or 4 key skills to make positive progress against the 'Level-up Arms Race'.

---

Followers I find to be much more trouble than they're worth and the quests that force you to have a follower are, to me, some of the most dangerous quests in the game.

The Bound Bow I have never used. I'd be surprised if it was worth bothering with though. You can't upgrade it with Smithing so I'd imagine it gets completely outclassed by bows you can make yourself very quickly. I don't know - try it and see.

Hope that's something useful to think about.

Cheers

Without smithing or conj perks its just below Daedric in damage (without accounting arrows) and with Mystic binding puts it above a baseline Dragonbone bow in damage. Granted at end game with maxed smithing it'll lose out, but it's great early on for its high damage, no arrow cost, and early access. Drawbacks being that the enemies you have to face to get it can be rough early on (lots of mages), the magicka cost is pretty steep without items/perks, and is not silent until you get quiet casting mid way into illusion.

Hmm. So that would make the base Bound Bow slightly superior damage-wise to a Flawless Dwarven Bow... but the Mystic version would be inferior to a Legendary Ebony Bow. (I think...) I guess if archery is not your primary combat skill then you could probably make it work.

The spell itself wouldn't be on sale until... level 23? And for the spellbook - I've always ended up bumping into Spriggans, high-level Vampires and all sorts heading in that direction. And mages I prefer to avoid until I've got decent elemental resistances (especially against Shock - that can be brutal).

I suppose as well it would depend on how much you were prioritising Smithing. I always hit Smithing 80 in what I would call the early game, but a different build might find the Bound Bow stays competitive for longer...

Interesting idea though.

(edit: Spellbook is on sale when your Conjuration hits 40, which happened quite quickly in my last game. )

if you follow the river heading south from windhelm it's pretty safe save some mudcrabs, a bear, some wolves (which can be avoided by pathing through the river), and being careful around the giant camp with quite a few iron deposits along the way.

Even if I'm not doing archery I tend to pick it up bound weapons for the perks so I don't have waste a weapon enchantment on soul trap and the invaluable ability to banish enemy summons
Not to mention having a back-up weapon if you get disarmed and can't find your sword (and/or it gets thrown off a cliff by another shout..)

I prefer Bound bow and even tho i tend to use enchant bows they still stay relvenat. Frst of you cant be disarmed and they level my skills naturaly. If you use common arrows it tend to grant enemy acces to your superior arrows, its inaf for them to have just one and they will keep using them. Cost of arrows also add up substancialy ower time as will rising of you speech skills or smithing.

I chose moderate smithing to get more control ower what i can actualy make until levels i deam critical so my armor have dicent effectivnes for invesment. Not briliant but we talking abouth lower levels and character that have conjuration for taking blunt of the damage.

Ther is loot of power when you all of suden sumon two dremoras and conjure a bow from tin air and cast AoE ilusion spell on top of it. Thos are some wery dominant skills hardly compered with one weapon or pice of armor. Weakness or low proficiency is what is real enemy of all specialisations so you do need great control. I will like to take many things but thats a trap, to awoid unproporcional leveling and random leveing of uncontrolable skills its esencial to not do stuff just becouse you can.

I do agre trainers are realy easy way out tho i prefer to awoid them becouse i need my self to stay focused.
We all know game mechanics and how things worck but we dont always apply this so we luse focus easy and character just become living mess. Having cople of levels 20 characters delited becouse of this fact that i simply lost focus, miss used falowers to do harder content and when they failed it is to late to go back, grainding gold and geting into difrent town activities also get of hand easy so as traying to hard of a quest with no thoughts and ending in gliching and save scaming loop.

Bigest chalange of this difficulty for me is to stay focused becouse its obviosly gona be hell to pay. My restrictions are preference and some are discipline but that is the point to play the game and not be played by the game. Tho my hope is that this setings are actualy duable in ways that are not relaying in brute owerduing, att list beter part of content. Its nice that you can play this game never living the town and still be able to rise skills and have plenty to do, options never hurt but staying in character is wher you need to take control.

Well this is just what i look in this play through but information spikes are obvious regarding what need to be done to stay relevant to content and more importantly breking points you need to reech in hope of conquering whats to come.
I thanks evry one for they insight tho this mather and i hope it will be inaf to test my metal agenst this setings and if nothing i still gona learn things or two in proces. Feel free to add your experiance tho this discasion as im sure some one will finde it intresting when they consider traying it for them selff. As for me i just hope i can stay focused and get some nice expirience on the way to my goals.

Nice. I like it.

-----

So I decided to give a Conjuration / Bound Bow (BB) play-through a go.

Firstly Breton is the obvious choice. They begin with Conjure Familiar and a Conjuration of 25 means you can pick up and start using Flame Atronach straight after Whiterun. In practice that doesn't matter too much though. I went with Nord again. It's a bit of a slower start with only Conjuration 15, and I had to rely on Conjure Familiar for a while, however repeatedly casting Bound Sword while standing out of reach on the roof of Silent Moons Camp helped move things along.

The bandits around Whiterun didn't stand any chance at all against a Flame Atronach, so I was able to quickly save up the money for a hired follower. Then the 3 of us headed off to pick up the BB Spellbook. At level 6 I found a load of Novice Mages which Jen & Fifi* just demolished with no problems at all.
(*Jen & Fifi = Jenassa the Dark Elf follower and Fifi the Flame Atronach.)

However going down that way at Level 7 means you'll find the place full of Apprentice Mages - much more dangerous especially when they gang up on you inside the buildings. In any event Calcelmo will sell the spellbook once you get to Conjuration 40 so it's no huge deal anyway.

So yeah having Conjuration and a follower really does simplify the early game a lot. You still have to be careful with them though. Friendly Fire is deadly on Legendary, they have a habit of standing in narrow corridors and blocking your escape, and occasionally they will get the attention of every enemy in the area and then just wander off and leave you to it...

Level 1-30: BB is a great combat support weapon. Get yourself a follower and pick on Bandits in dungeons without narrow corridors and you'll be fine. I got to level 30 and made my own Dragonbone Bow (DB) with no real problems. Level 31 is where you become immune to 'disarm' I believe so that was a nice touch.

Level 30 - 50 or so: BB is still a great combat support weapon but I found myself needing to fight enemies and go in dungeons where summons and followers just got in the way. So I dropped the follower from here on: using Conjuration (summons and BB) just for wandering around and switching to stealth with the DB for location assaults. The DB was always just slightly superior to the BB for sneak attacks. It could one-shot Falmer first, it could 2-shot bosses first... and so on. DB was also quieter, doesn't 'disappear' at inconvenient moments and its animations glitched less often than the BB.

When the BB starts to fall behind will depend on your build I think. Around level 60 I felt that the BB just wasn't keeping up with the higher-tier enemies, whereas the DB and Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow still had another 200 or so points of damage you could squeeze out of them.

I'm currently on Level 73 and haven't used the BB for ages. It only comes out when I need to knock the crystals out of those magical traps. Having said that: it was great for early levels and I will use it, and Conjuration generally, again early-game with my next character.

Cheers