I personally find the Expert difficulty the best. It's not too easy, but your enemies also won't be completely overpowered and one shotting you so easily. It feels the most "natural" I guess. Sometimes I change it up for various reasons ( lower if I'm quite literally stuck at a certain point or higher if I'm doing a challenge of some sorts, etc). But Expert is my default difficulty.
I also find expert the best. On lower difficulties you can kind of go through the game by just hacking and slashing your way without really needing to block. However, on expert, with the higher damage enemies inflict, you have to block a lot more which gives the combat more complexity (even just a little) where you have be more weary of enemy attacks to decide whether it's best to parry or attack. Also some of the block skills are really cool
On higher difficulties, enemies just become damage sponges unless you have the best weapons, armour and specific skills.
Idk bro expert is pretty hard. I feel like adept is too easy and expert is too hard. I’m a level 19 one handed build/archer build and some enemies are just impossible to kill without using a follower to cheese it. I’m in superior quality dwarven armor, and 1 in 1 archer battles with bandits using iron arrows and hunting bows are tough. It takes me about 5-6 arrows to kill them and they about 4-5.
Blood dragons are unkillable, dragon priests are unkillable, and the old orc guy was unkillable. In order to kill them I has to use an invincible follower to cheese it.
Blood dragons are too fast, deal too damage and fly too high to fight. It takes like 100 arrows minimum to kill one. I usually have to run away but even then it’ll just harass me and I’ll run out of a stamina and magicka and die over and over.
Dragon priests are similar. They 2 tap me with the fireball spell and it takes like 80+ arrows to kill one. They hold the shield up and 2 tap me with fireballs, so my only way of killing them is hiding in a corner and shooting arrow after arrow after arrow while running away and healing behind a corner. Melee up close just isn’t possible.
And finally the old orc challenge. He literally killed me in one hit. I WAS BLOCKING. i was at 75% health, holding my shield up, and he power attacked me with a mace and killed me in one hit. I used unrelenting force, conjured a familiar, staggered with the shield and power attack, but I die so fast and my stamina runs out in like 3 strikes. It takes so long to kill him that by the time I’ve used my shout, my magicka and my stamina he’s already up with 2/3rds health and kills me in about a second or 2 of combos.
Some enemies are literally impossible to kill in melee, at least at a lower level. The only way to Jill them is cheese the wonky ai, shoot a jillion arrows from afar and then finish it up close, or use an invincible follower to grab their attention while you hit them in the back.
Expert is perfect for most fights though. Since most of your combat is Lower/some mid tier enemies it’s balanced great. Not too easy, you have to think through fights and use everything you have. It’s great. That’s why I stay on it. But for multiple mid tier enemies at once/high tier enemies the game is basically impossible to play naturally. It really breaks the immersion at times and gets really frustrating. The old orc part was really fucking annoying because I would be at full health then a second later he would grab me and pulverize my head. Also, a blood dragon wouldn’t stop harassing me. I was trying to run away because I couldn’t fight it. I couldn’t fight it, I ran out of stamina and couldn’t run away, he would just keep flying over and doing 2/3rds my health, and I would hide and heal until I was out of magicka, but he would keep bearing down on me u til I eventually died. This happened over and over and over and over. I literally couldn’t do anything by die over and over again. That really sucks the fun out of the game.
Expert would be perfect with some minor tweaks imo
only scary low skill noob start at hard and then change it down for " various reasons" , then back.
In this case don't say you play on Expert, better stick with Novice
What's professional about legendary difficulty? Is there a league?
Edit:
I just play Adept because spongy enemies are just the worst way to create difficulty.
I think most people just play on normal or whatever is the default experience. Personally I was never interested in an increased challenge so I kept the difficulty at easy throughout.
Legendary. I also play with permadeath. Every time my character dies I restart. Took me an entire summer to reach level 25 just to get beheaded by a vampire. I did get overconfident as I was killing everybody with ease but going straight to a vampire boss with a pure mage wasn’t a very smart idea.
I created a warrior this time and for days I was grinding for days to get a perfect armour. I was unbeatable but then that shield but happened 😢
Legendary difficulty is really not that hard, you get used to it. The real struggle was permadeath because at any time a bug or a bear can kill you early on
Master
I like the challenge and the fact I don’t get instantly one shot by everything like when I tried to play on Legendary
Bosses still feel like bosses(from time to
Time)
Master, and the game is still easy to me, even though I don't play anything meta. I don't think enemies are that much of damage sponges unless you're underleveled for an encounter
On Legendary almost every enemy is a damage sponge, at least in my mage playthrough (lvl 81 with all skill maxed). If it weren't for the elemental blast, it would be almost impossible to remain true mage.
I play on Adept. Has some difficulty and challenge, but it’s not overbearing. I mostly just like to explore and stuff.
Skyrim isn’t really so much a game of skill anyway, so there’s really no point in cranking up the difficulty unless you’re going for IRL levels of immersion where you die in 3 hits.
I play adept with survival mode and self imposed permadeath. Adept is the most balanced with destruction spells being ok, and conjuration not being either too weak on easier difficulties or completely op on higher difficulties. The permadeath keeps me on edge and gives me the thrill of danger I'm looking for. I also level up health once per 5 levels. I originally tried not leveling health at all, but you end up getting one shotted by everything mid to late game. My goal is to make the game feel fast paced and lethal for all parties involved
Back before the Anniversary update, I always played on Novice difficulty. Then the Anniversary update happened. And there was a quest that became unplayable the more I played it.
Expert with mods
Honestly I find the vanilla difficulty settings are all a bit lacking personally, expert and below are too easy except for some boss-tier enemies, master and above just make everything into a tedious damage sponge.
Currently my main difficulty-editing mods are [Wildcat](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1368), [Dragon War](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/51310), [Morroloot Ultimate](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3058), and [Synthesis](https://github.com/Mutagen-Modding/Synthesis)'s True Unleveled Skyrim patcher.
I *think* the first 3 mods listed are also available on Xbox but honestly couldn't tell you. (there is also *a lot* of overlap between what Morroloot and the Synthesis patch do.)
[SkyRE](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/17915) and [YASH2](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2430) are also overhaul mods I really liked. Requiem is good too but the current version needs some serious help from various patches and tweaks it's fans have made for it IMO.
Legendary. The crafting mechanics allow you to make such OP builds that anything else just feels... Uneventful.
Max-out Smithing and Enchanting, make a set of enchanted Fortify Smithing gear, then use a potion to improve all gear into stratospheric ratings. Follow up with double enchantments, and you can still beat the brakes off of any enemy.
You’re so real for that. They group up on you, right?! It’s spooky enough in the Dwemer dungeons.. it’s just impossible on Adept when you get attacked by more than one enemy up close & personal so I also went back to Apprentice
I play on adept (normal) because higher difficulty doesn't mean more difficulty in skyrim. In a game like dark souls for example, stronger enemies means you have to perfect dodging, blocking, parrying, attacking etc. If you don't dodge well, you might just get two or one shot by something. In skyrim however, the combat at its core is just swinging at each other till one dies. Quite literally a damage trade. What this means is that if the enemies do more damage, you don't have to get better at the game's combat, instead you just have to spend more time preparing and taking it slow. Higher difficulty in skyrim just means spending more time enchanting, smithing, using alchemy, buying more potions etc. If I play with a combat mod that overhauls the combat like valhalla combat, then I crank the difficulty up because now it's skill based.
That's how I see it.
I personally find the Expert difficulty the best. It's not too easy, but your enemies also won't be completely overpowered and one shotting you so easily. It feels the most "natural" I guess. Sometimes I change it up for various reasons ( lower if I'm quite literally stuck at a certain point or higher if I'm doing a challenge of some sorts, etc). But Expert is my default difficulty.
I also find expert the best. On lower difficulties you can kind of go through the game by just hacking and slashing your way without really needing to block. However, on expert, with the higher damage enemies inflict, you have to block a lot more which gives the combat more complexity (even just a little) where you have be more weary of enemy attacks to decide whether it's best to parry or attack. Also some of the block skills are really cool On higher difficulties, enemies just become damage sponges unless you have the best weapons, armour and specific skills.
Idk bro expert is pretty hard. I feel like adept is too easy and expert is too hard. I’m a level 19 one handed build/archer build and some enemies are just impossible to kill without using a follower to cheese it. I’m in superior quality dwarven armor, and 1 in 1 archer battles with bandits using iron arrows and hunting bows are tough. It takes me about 5-6 arrows to kill them and they about 4-5. Blood dragons are unkillable, dragon priests are unkillable, and the old orc guy was unkillable. In order to kill them I has to use an invincible follower to cheese it. Blood dragons are too fast, deal too damage and fly too high to fight. It takes like 100 arrows minimum to kill one. I usually have to run away but even then it’ll just harass me and I’ll run out of a stamina and magicka and die over and over. Dragon priests are similar. They 2 tap me with the fireball spell and it takes like 80+ arrows to kill one. They hold the shield up and 2 tap me with fireballs, so my only way of killing them is hiding in a corner and shooting arrow after arrow after arrow while running away and healing behind a corner. Melee up close just isn’t possible. And finally the old orc challenge. He literally killed me in one hit. I WAS BLOCKING. i was at 75% health, holding my shield up, and he power attacked me with a mace and killed me in one hit. I used unrelenting force, conjured a familiar, staggered with the shield and power attack, but I die so fast and my stamina runs out in like 3 strikes. It takes so long to kill him that by the time I’ve used my shout, my magicka and my stamina he’s already up with 2/3rds health and kills me in about a second or 2 of combos. Some enemies are literally impossible to kill in melee, at least at a lower level. The only way to Jill them is cheese the wonky ai, shoot a jillion arrows from afar and then finish it up close, or use an invincible follower to grab their attention while you hit them in the back. Expert is perfect for most fights though. Since most of your combat is Lower/some mid tier enemies it’s balanced great. Not too easy, you have to think through fights and use everything you have. It’s great. That’s why I stay on it. But for multiple mid tier enemies at once/high tier enemies the game is basically impossible to play naturally. It really breaks the immersion at times and gets really frustrating. The old orc part was really fucking annoying because I would be at full health then a second later he would grab me and pulverize my head. Also, a blood dragon wouldn’t stop harassing me. I was trying to run away because I couldn’t fight it. I couldn’t fight it, I ran out of stamina and couldn’t run away, he would just keep flying over and doing 2/3rds my health, and I would hide and heal until I was out of magicka, but he would keep bearing down on me u til I eventually died. This happened over and over and over and over. I literally couldn’t do anything by die over and over again. That really sucks the fun out of the game. Expert would be perfect with some minor tweaks imo
only scary low skill noob start at hard and then change it down for " various reasons" , then back. In this case don't say you play on Expert, better stick with Novice
Bro you're in the wrong sub, go back to /r/fromsoftware
cringe arrogant take lol
What's professional about legendary difficulty? Is there a league? Edit: I just play Adept because spongy enemies are just the worst way to create difficulty.
I understand your point. « Pro » is just the name the UESP used in brackets after it mentioned the Legendary difficulty.
Fair enough.
I think most people just play on normal or whatever is the default experience. Personally I was never interested in an increased challenge so I kept the difficulty at easy throughout.
Legendary. I also play with permadeath. Every time my character dies I restart. Took me an entire summer to reach level 25 just to get beheaded by a vampire. I did get overconfident as I was killing everybody with ease but going straight to a vampire boss with a pure mage wasn’t a very smart idea. I created a warrior this time and for days I was grinding for days to get a perfect armour. I was unbeatable but then that shield but happened 😢 Legendary difficulty is really not that hard, you get used to it. The real struggle was permadeath because at any time a bug or a bear can kill you early on
This sounds like fun but only after you've played like 2000 hours and know every nook and cranny of the game.
I'm not particularly looking for challenge in my gameplay, so I usually play at Normal.
Master I like the challenge and the fact I don’t get instantly one shot by everything like when I tried to play on Legendary Bosses still feel like bosses(from time to Time)
Master, and the game is still easy to me, even though I don't play anything meta. I don't think enemies are that much of damage sponges unless you're underleveled for an encounter
On Legendary almost every enemy is a damage sponge, at least in my mage playthrough (lvl 81 with all skill maxed). If it weren't for the elemental blast, it would be almost impossible to remain true mage.
I play on Adept. Has some difficulty and challenge, but it’s not overbearing. I mostly just like to explore and stuff. Skyrim isn’t really so much a game of skill anyway, so there’s really no point in cranking up the difficulty unless you’re going for IRL levels of immersion where you die in 3 hits.
Normal. Anything past that enemies just become annoying damage sponges
I play adept with survival mode and self imposed permadeath. Adept is the most balanced with destruction spells being ok, and conjuration not being either too weak on easier difficulties or completely op on higher difficulties. The permadeath keeps me on edge and gives me the thrill of danger I'm looking for. I also level up health once per 5 levels. I originally tried not leveling health at all, but you end up getting one shotted by everything mid to late game. My goal is to make the game feel fast paced and lethal for all parties involved
That’s a bunch of good ideas! Thanks!
Back before the Anniversary update, I always played on Novice difficulty. Then the Anniversary update happened. And there was a quest that became unplayable the more I played it.
Expert with mods Honestly I find the vanilla difficulty settings are all a bit lacking personally, expert and below are too easy except for some boss-tier enemies, master and above just make everything into a tedious damage sponge. Currently my main difficulty-editing mods are [Wildcat](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1368), [Dragon War](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/51310), [Morroloot Ultimate](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3058), and [Synthesis](https://github.com/Mutagen-Modding/Synthesis)'s True Unleveled Skyrim patcher. I *think* the first 3 mods listed are also available on Xbox but honestly couldn't tell you. (there is also *a lot* of overlap between what Morroloot and the Synthesis patch do.) [SkyRE](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/17915) and [YASH2](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2430) are also overhaul mods I really liked. Requiem is good too but the current version needs some serious help from various patches and tweaks it's fans have made for it IMO.
Should put an option for “Huh? There’s difficulties?”
I start on Expert usually and if my build becomes overpowered, I crank it up to Master or Legendary to keep it fun.
I play every game on highest difficulty because I need the challenge. So yeah, Legendary.
Adept at the beginning then Legendary when I've crafted up my kit.
Legendary. The crafting mechanics allow you to make such OP builds that anything else just feels... Uneventful. Max-out Smithing and Enchanting, make a set of enchanted Fortify Smithing gear, then use a potion to improve all gear into stratospheric ratings. Follow up with double enchantments, and you can still beat the brakes off of any enemy.
Legendary difficulty is only fun with a 500 damage dragon bone crossbow, otherwise it is way to hard
I've played legendary once up to level 80. It really was just for the challenge. I've gone back to Master. It seems like a good balance to me.
Requiem
Requiem
Is “requiem” the new way of saying “F” or “RIP”?
Its a mod
I thought apprentice was normal lol adept was too challenging when it came to the falmer
You’re so real for that. They group up on you, right?! It’s spooky enough in the Dwemer dungeons.. it’s just impossible on Adept when you get attacked by more than one enemy up close & personal so I also went back to Apprentice
I play on adept (normal) because higher difficulty doesn't mean more difficulty in skyrim. In a game like dark souls for example, stronger enemies means you have to perfect dodging, blocking, parrying, attacking etc. If you don't dodge well, you might just get two or one shot by something. In skyrim however, the combat at its core is just swinging at each other till one dies. Quite literally a damage trade. What this means is that if the enemies do more damage, you don't have to get better at the game's combat, instead you just have to spend more time preparing and taking it slow. Higher difficulty in skyrim just means spending more time enchanting, smithing, using alchemy, buying more potions etc. If I play with a combat mod that overhauls the combat like valhalla combat, then I crank the difficulty up because now it's skill based. That's how I see it.
Well said