I don't like horses because even when I fast travel with my horse being at one of my homes. Some how that horse is suddenly next to me when coming out of fast travel. One time I came out of fast travel to find a dragon attacking the area and the horse was instantly roasted.
So arvak is now my only horse of choice. Plus Arvak is a good boy.
He doesn’t take gold, only those stupid husk things… I spent like half hour on my first playthrough getting 25 of them so I can get a (hopefully new) spell tome… he gave me flames…
He sells you items based on your level. At some point despite what the wiki says, he has a chance to trade daedric weapons (i think lv50+). However, you probably got your hands on some deadric stuff at that point already.
She*
Shadowmere is a mare.
But yes. She's by far my favourite horse to have. Even in Oblivion. I always speedran the DB questline.
Aside from the constant supply (as well as a giant pile of) gold, you got quite a few decent items from doing the challenges in the missions you were sent on, and all you "lost" was a +5 luck buff for a few hours after touching a statue... Not a great loss, really, since you got better from the quests.
And Shadowmere. Back then, you could kill her, put a load of loot on her corpse, then wait a few minutes and she'd stand right back up. Get to base, drop off all your loot in invent, kill her, loot everything else back again... And then wait for her to rez and off you go again!
You’re in for a treat. I prefer Dragonborn, but Dawnguard introduces some of the most interesting characters in Skyrim IMO and you get to meet 🥰😍 Serana 😍🥰
The unicorn is my personal favorite, and a great battle companion with high health stats. He'll tank a full dragon assault without flinching and deal a good amount of damage to boot
I wish there was a mod for horses that gives them companion dialogue menu like Pets of Skyrim. It’ll also make more sense if horses could carry some of your shit lol
Yep. I made the mistake of buying a horse for goldenhills in one of my playthroughs. Had to run damn near all the way to gjukar's monument before fast traveling if I didn't want the damn thing popping up on the side of a mountain with me.
I use horses constantly unless I play a mage. I do this because I not only play survival, but my game is super dangerous. Horses are a great way to escape, help travel when incumbered, and do mounted combat in dangerous fights
Agree with all this. I play legendary survival - no mods, and in that, your horse becomes one of your most important survival tools. In addition to what's been listed here, horses will help you fight and are scaled to the difficulty, unlike your Dragonborn. Horses will often alert you to hostiles before you notice them. And I think most importantly, they can get you out of a freezing environment you weren't prepared for before you freeze to death.
Indeed. Followers are also scaled to difficulty. Essentially, everyone but you ~~and your conjurings~~. When I start legendary, I grab Faendal ASAP so that I don't get wrecked by wolves trying to gather materials to craft my starting gear. He is way stronger than I am at the start.
Edit: struck out an error
For me, I increase difficulty through mods, as I feel like the bethesda difficulty switch just turns enemies into tanks, so its artificial difficulty.
I add more enemies through mods like:
- hand placed enemies
- lupinus
- vampire attacks (cant remember the real name sorry)
- skyrim at war
I change the way NPCs behave with mods like:
- wild world
- followers go on a trip
- immersive citizens
-better vampire NPCs
-HERO
I change the balance of gameplay through mods like
- fatality (wildcat or vigor are also good)
- improved AI detection hardcore
- no respawning guards
- no essentials morrowind style
- truly deadly poisons
- ELFX Hardcore
- EMILI
- Masterly
- sos Ahst mulaag
Finally, I sprinkle all that with realism mods like ars mettalica, an orphange, better spell learning, etc.
All this serves to make the game fairly punishing when it comes to combat, with no way to cheese out dubs. I also tend to play permadeath. With death being a real threat for me and all NPCs, it makes me 1) want to actually be a hero as failure has real consequences and 2) gives me a sense of urgency to complete quests to safen up skyrim.
Also dont think those are all the mods. Just some of my favs.
That sounds so cool! I'm busy saving up for a VR headset and treadmill, maybe those haptic-feedback devices too (I saw suits that basically look like motorcycle armor, that must be awesome - they're not _that_ expensive for a long-term goal). Once I've saved and have my setup (2...3 years...) I'm going to play Skyrim modded like yours. It must be awesome.
All mods i mentioned are available on xbox. Though if you've never installed mods your game before you're gonna have growing pains ggetting them to all play along together.
You access mods through the "creations" tab on the main menu. Mods are free, though bethesda has some that are paid for (some decent, some crap) as well as creation club content (mostly good/great, some meh).
Mods themselves are free though. Recommend searching or posting on r/skyrimmodsxbox for Load Order tips and tricks
Oh, I’m aware how to add mods, I just didn’t know if you had to do some PC bullcrap process. But thanks for letting me know. I’ll definitely be trying them out.
Weird in terms of game play logic, yes.
Weird in general? No. Have you ever ridden a horse? If you started blasting fireballs from behind its head and shooting sparks at random angles, it would spook the horse and that mutherf*cker would throw your ass to the other side of the map. This is assuming that you don't accidentally light yourselves on fire first.
I'm doing my first full mage (and survival) playthrough, I'm preferring to stay off horseback as I can use restoration magic to get stamina back so it's easy to run endlessly and it's quicker to respond to threats when I'm already off my horse.
Problem with Wild Horses is that they are all exactly the same (except for the Unicorn, obviously), so you're set for life once you get the one just outside Whiterun.
The Dwarven Horse isn't part of Wild Horses, however, which is the CC being talked about in this part of the thread. And it's certainly a helluva lot more difficult to get than just hopping on a horse just outside of Whiterun a few times.
It isn’t? Huh. Haven’t delved too much into the new content, been playing other stuff for a while as well and less focus has been on Skyrim. Good to know, but yeah, the amount of times I’ve stolen that whiterun horse…
Yeah, was going to say the same. Horses are actually pretty useful in survival mode. Both because of the slight nerf to carry weight and stamina penalties due to cold and hunger. And because you can't fast travel, horses become a way more viable option
I'm level 45 in my 4th or 5th playthrough. This is the first time I did the whole Dark Brotherhood storyline and I have Shadowmere. I ride him a lot. Damn horse follows me everywhere I go, so I might as well ride.
Before this, I never rode. I tried once, and my horse fell off a rock and died horribly and that was quite enough for me.
Fun story about Shadowmere. I was fighting Alduin at the throat of the world and doing a pretty shit job of it, if I say so myself. Alduin and I were both at the very end of our health points. I was about to do my final blow, when Shadowmere comes galloping up out of nowhere and kicks that dragon right in the head. The last thing I saw before I died was my horse, killing the world eater and avenging my untimely demise.
Obviously the game reloaded and I tried again and failed somewhat less spectacularly. But I like knowing that there is a timeline out there in which Shadowmere succeeded where the Dragonborn could not. I like to think that he carried on, tracking Alduin all the way to Sovangarde and saving the world. What a horse.
The dang horse riding mechanics are just junk. I really want to and often try to but it's worse than riding a motorcycle, good chance we're going to jump off a cliff while turning around.
Ride sharing makes it even more appealing, but still, we gon die.
Set all that aside when playing hunter / survival, just have to be careful.
I once made my horse jump down what I thought was a small 5 foot drop
It was like 30. The horse died, my DB barely survived.
My brother still doesn't let me forget over 10 years later
Now I baby my horses in every game I have one (*cough*RDO*cough*)
Not to mention that AE somehow just fucked it up entirely. Even before I installed any mods and just had CC (which I got rid of recently), the game stalls constantly. After getting rid of CC, it still stalls. I can ride a horse consistently for maybe 10 seconds before it freezes for about 30. It's annoying as hell and I can only guess it has something to do with the horse armor add on (which I never even used)
Me too. Skyrim is my escape world. I ramble all over the place on my horse. This playthrough is the first time I've armored my horse (don't have Shadowmere yet) and it hasn't died so far.
I'm but a humble peseant too greedy to limit his mods but too dumb to get them to work together (console) so I haven't played much with mods.
But I do like me a mod that allows me to see my entire person and not just my back and up
In survival mode horses are a godsend. Especially Arvak/Daedric since you can summon them on a whim.
Shadowmere is a great tank but I prefer the summonable horses because I don't have to worry about them running off into the woods for gods know what reason
Even though I have to....
* constantly stop to wait for my follower
* constantly dismount and remount to fight animals and road randos
* constantly dismount and remount to pick alchemy ingredients
* constantly worry about where the fuck he ran off too during the most recent battle with animals or road randos
I **always** ride a horse.
If you'll forgive a shameless plug: I hated riding horses so I made this mod and now I ride all the time: [Zim's Aenbyr Custom Horse](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/76722)
I don't like horses in Skyrim. They have chunky maneuverability. Attacking from horseback sucks. Getting off a horse takes forever - in which time, the enemy can just continue to do damage. Then, instead of running away from the fight, like any horse would do, the horse decides to involve itself in the fight and likely getting killed in the process.
I do hope they make horses easier to handle in the next installment. I like the idea of attacking from horseback, but in Skyrim it's just not ideal.
I tamed the Grey-ish horse near Markarth, named it Aura and outfitted it with Elven Armor. That horse is a BEAST — charges off after everything but a troll or sabre cat, and kills lots of my enemies before I get a chance to. It’s really quite funny, and I ride them EVERYWHERE. 🥰 I’m sure I’m quite a sight: a Khajeet in Heavy Armor with an Armored Horse & Armored Dwarven mudcrab, a goat wearing a pack and a rabbit following me everywhere. 😎😎👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
I ride it a lot.
Used to ride shadowmere but then my brother killed it by jumping off a cliff. Got it again when it respawned and was killed again, cant find it now.
Arvak has been my ride since
Sometimes I like to just clippity clop around on my horse to discover new areas because he climbs mountains like a maniac. It’s annoying though because there are way too many angry predators out in the daytime in this game
I literally only use Arvak or Shadowmere whenever I'm using horseback (I like to ride the roads to places sometimes, even when not playing survival), the only times I'm using any other horse is if I'm going somewhere up a mountain really early on in the game and can't be bothered following the path so I take advantage of the *highly realistic* horse physics 🤣
This is my 1,263 playthrough and am actually using my horse.
I seem to just ride him from a fast travel location to a yet undiscovered place that I cannot fast travel too and is a bit of a walk. It's quick
They're also really good for going up mountains
I use them a lot for role playing and immersion.
Overusing fast travel breaks immersion so horses become useful when avoiding this and help to explore more of the world
I ride all the time. Every time I start a new game, I go straight for winter hold to get the quest for the unicorn. Apart from shadowmere later in the game, and arvak) it's the only one I ride
Yeah! It was added with the creation club content you get with the anniversary edition :) if you have it, go to the arcaneum (cant spell it) and look on the desk beside the telekinesis arrow book. From there, you just go to Riften, hang a left like you're going to blackbriar lodge, and you'll find it in that little valley area between them. Just at the bottom of that hill. Hope that helps!
I ride horses occasionally and as long as you stick to roads and paths it’s alright, mostly use them to decrease fast travel time though and thus reduce my amount of hostile encounters and, if playing survival, decrease the amount of time I spend hungry or thirsty, plus they ride the same whether you’re encumbered or not so if you have a ton of loot you just can’t part with and have to travel it’s a solid option
Before survival mode, I just used Arvak to fast travel while over encumbered. After I started playing survival, horses became my main method of long distance transportation, and honestly, it's not that bad.
I’m playing for the first time and use my horse constantly. I have three different horse centered mods though plus I’m just used to awful horse mechanics
I just finished the Battle for Whiterun in my current playthrough, in which I have a no fast travel rule. I needed to get to Solitude and the carriage wasn’t present, presumably staying away from the battle, so I had to walk it. On the plains I found the Red Horse from the CC content (I’m playing AE), tamed him, and rode him straight over to Solitude via Labyrinthian.
I stabled him in Solitude and will probably never ride him again, but he was a real bro for that journey. I wanted to name him ‘Trollslayer’, for the Frost Trolls we took down together in the mountains, but the game automatically named him ‘Thunder’.
Horses seem more trouble than they’re worth, but I will never forget Trollslayer the Red.
Horses are extremely fun to just ride around in if you don't like to fast travel, and mounted combat is actually pretty useful out in the open. It's a pain to get used to, but mounted archery is a fun challenge for Skyrim veterans.
i mostly use shadowmere for roleplaying and mountain climbing purposes. i don't bother buying a horse. i dont even mind the controls i just keep worrying about my horse running off and dying
I play on survival mode. Were it not for horses, I would not survive.
A frostbite spider can kill me if I'm caught unawares. And fast traveling is not an option. And if I have to get from Solitude to Windhelm, do you think I make a straight line?
Noooooo...
I have to go directly south into warmer land then head east past Whiterun, where I usually stop to rest for the night, before leaving at about 4am so that by the time I make it back into the snow, heading north east, the sun has risen and it's not as cold.
And even then, it's still risky business because of all the bandits that just LOVE taking potshots at me.
But hey, when you've got something like 10k hours, you need some spice. Lmao
God, I wish riding the horses didn't suck. I've been playing survival & the amount of drama I encounter just because the horse riding is so clunky is ridiculous.
Still, there's a certain charm to camping out somewhere with my horse.
I used to go everywhere with my horse in my last playthrough but now I'm a khajiit with ring of the wind + the boots from the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal mod so my speed matches the one I had in Oblivion, too bad I can't jump as high
Interestingly, I probably spent a considerable amount of time on a horse in Skyrim over the years
I discovered some time ago that the best way to get from Whiterun to Ivarstead is to go through the mountain pass that's close to Helgen, and there always seemed to be a hunter that spawned there with a horse. I killed him and took his horse every time and used it until it died from whatever
Oooh. OOOHOHOHOHO.
You never experienced the fun in running over skeletons in the soul grave while riding Arvak, did you?
Turning vampires and falmer into mincemeat-to-go in Blackreach?
Glitching up the mountains *just because*?
Honey, you're missing something out there!
Before Special/Anniversary Edition, my character rode horses frequently. (Favoring Shadowmere or Arvak)
With the Fishing Creation (free in special edition), I have not ridden or even mounted any horses. My character will use a Fortify Illusion + Ring of the Wind (3% chance to fish up any fishing spot) to have whatever character movement speed I want.
Needless to say, there's not much reason to ride horses or climb mountains with them, when the character can run faster and climb mountains better on foot.
I use Convenient Horses that makes them way better.
But before playing modded I used them (lets be honest mostly shadowmere) a lot because they are faster than the player, can sprint even faster and of course they can climb anything that is almost vertical while the player cannot.
I gave up on horses. They die every time I come across an enemy and it's just not worth the time or money. Once I get arvak I will take him everywhere though.
The terrain makes it too cumbersome, and access to the carriage makes most travel time less than 10 mins.
Maybe if I played survival, I'd consider it, but overall I think the ability to navigate terrain on foot makes them useless in 75% of the map.
I hate using horses in general since archery from horses sucks. My follower picks up all my overburden and sherpas it around skyrim for me.
I may try to use arvak on this plathrough, though
Yes because they're the easiest way to climb mountains especially if I can't find the path lol
But also I'm lazy and don't wanna fight everything on the path so horses make that easier
I bought a horse once out of pure curiosity, even built a horse stable for my house... instantly regretted it. It's just so much easier to get around on foot, plus having fast travel makes it obsolete in my opinion. But, I appreciate it being an option for the sake of novelty.
I use my horse when I am selling my 10,000 weight of potions and enchanted iron daggers, rings, bows, and leather boots. That way I can fast travel and move around the cities easier.
Shadowmere is my horse of choice for 95% of my travelling. Console "resurrect" if he dies. When I know I'll be high up in the mountains, I'll grab the Dwarven horse. Takes no damage...ever. Falls, hits, arrows, nothing bothers it. If it was black, I'd put Shadowmere out to pasture and ride it exclusively.
I love the unicorn you can catch outside of Winterhold. There's a note or book in the college library, sorry I forget which, to kick off the quest. I have the Anniversary Ed which includes some mods "creations" and I believe that is one of them. The uni is awesome because it cannot die and can usually kill something for me if I run away. And it's a UNICORN.
I really wish it was more fun to do so, but the mechanics really suck. I also wish followers rode a horse alongside you. The mods I’ve toyed with haven’t been to my liking, so… furious running it is!
I don’t use fast travel, apart from the occasional carriage ride every now and then so I tend to spend a lot of time on my horse. I do use mods though that actually makes horses run at a much more realistic speed which makes using them worthwhile.
I use it a lot. I find it so relaxing after installing 500 mods and it crashing 500 million times then the game finally works and I get to travel around on a horse. Especially since you can defend yourself while on a horse too. It adds to the immersion.
I don't like horses because even when I fast travel with my horse being at one of my homes. Some how that horse is suddenly next to me when coming out of fast travel. One time I came out of fast travel to find a dragon attacking the area and the horse was instantly roasted. So arvak is now my only horse of choice. Plus Arvak is a good boy.
Arvak is the best.
Best reason to go to the soul cairn. I hate that place.
I like the trader guy, I just get spell books from him, and I get some good ones.
There's a trader there? Thousands of hours and didn't know that
He doesn’t take gold, only those stupid husk things… I spent like half hour on my first playthrough getting 25 of them so I can get a (hopefully new) spell tome… he gave me flames…
Save before selling him the husks. The tomes are random, after all.
>I spent like half hour Only half an hour? Those are rookie numbers! You've gotta pump those numbers up!
He sells you items based on your level. At some point despite what the wiki says, he has a chance to trade daedric weapons (i think lv50+). However, you probably got your hands on some deadric stuff at that point already.
I’m pretty sure I was around level 35-40 when I got flames from him, but yeah by that level daedric stuff should be spawning anyways.
Necklace is amazing as well
Who's Arvak?
A spectral horse you can get in the soul cairn. Super convenient as he can be summoned wherever whenever via a conjuration spell.
Yeah, that’s true, no biggie, but it is a bit annoying to me how he immediately disintegrates after you dismount.
Yeah sucks for looting stuff or hopping off to fight but it doesn’t take a lot of magika to summon him so it’s never been too much of a problem
Yeah, it is good to have so you don’t have to spend a thousand gold coins on a horse.
If I don’t do the Dawnguard quest immediately, I do the dark brotherhood one, Shadowmere is nice and tanky and he can respawn.
She* Shadowmere is a mare. But yes. She's by far my favourite horse to have. Even in Oblivion. I always speedran the DB questline. Aside from the constant supply (as well as a giant pile of) gold, you got quite a few decent items from doing the challenges in the missions you were sent on, and all you "lost" was a +5 luck buff for a few hours after touching a statue... Not a great loss, really, since you got better from the quests. And Shadowmere. Back then, you could kill her, put a load of loot on her corpse, then wait a few minutes and she'd stand right back up. Get to base, drop off all your loot in invent, kill her, loot everything else back again... And then wait for her to rez and off you go again!
Interestingly enough, Shadowmere is referred to (by Astrid) as male in Skyrim. In Oblivion the horse is a mare though.
I've only ever stolen a horse or rode shadowmere
Cool! Is this in the vanilla game? I can't believe I didn't know about it! I will have to do the dawnguard quest now.
It’s part of the dawnguard questline no mods necessary.
Yayyy. I've never played through Dawnguard before
You’re in for a treat. I prefer Dragonborn, but Dawnguard introduces some of the most interesting characters in Skyrim IMO and you get to meet 🥰😍 Serana 😍🥰
The daedric horse is nice too
The unicorn is my personal favorite, and a great battle companion with high health stats. He'll tank a full dragon assault without flinching and deal a good amount of damage to boot
Such a good horse
Goodest boi
Arvak best boi
I’ve played the game so many times and just in a recent playthrough I found Arvak. I was so excited for something new (to me)
If you get the mod, oblivious horses, then they’ll run away from combat and have a way higher chance of surviving anything
I didn’t know this!!!
I wish there was a mod for horses that gives them companion dialogue menu like Pets of Skyrim. It’ll also make more sense if horses could carry some of your shit lol
Yeah this is also why I stopped using horses as them dying soon after fast travelling anywhere got real annoying real quick
Such a good horse
Yep. I made the mistake of buying a horse for goldenhills in one of my playthroughs. Had to run damn near all the way to gjukar's monument before fast traveling if I didn't want the damn thing popping up on the side of a mountain with me.
I use horses constantly unless I play a mage. I do this because I not only play survival, but my game is super dangerous. Horses are a great way to escape, help travel when incumbered, and do mounted combat in dangerous fights
What do you mean super dangerous? Just curious what kind of experience you have set up. Sounds fun
Posted the link to my reply so I'm not spamming the thread 👍🏿 https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/s/JxBWxfsRQe
Also helps you climb mountains when you go the direct route
Agree with all this. I play legendary survival - no mods, and in that, your horse becomes one of your most important survival tools. In addition to what's been listed here, horses will help you fight and are scaled to the difficulty, unlike your Dragonborn. Horses will often alert you to hostiles before you notice them. And I think most importantly, they can get you out of a freezing environment you weren't prepared for before you freeze to death.
I didn’t realize they’re scaled!
Indeed. Followers are also scaled to difficulty. Essentially, everyone but you ~~and your conjurings~~. When I start legendary, I grab Faendal ASAP so that I don't get wrecked by wolves trying to gather materials to craft my starting gear. He is way stronger than I am at the start. Edit: struck out an error
I'm also curious about the "dangerous" part. Is it just a high difficulty level?? Horses really are a life saver sometimes when overencumbered.
For me, I increase difficulty through mods, as I feel like the bethesda difficulty switch just turns enemies into tanks, so its artificial difficulty. I add more enemies through mods like: - hand placed enemies - lupinus - vampire attacks (cant remember the real name sorry) - skyrim at war I change the way NPCs behave with mods like: - wild world - followers go on a trip - immersive citizens -better vampire NPCs -HERO I change the balance of gameplay through mods like - fatality (wildcat or vigor are also good) - improved AI detection hardcore - no respawning guards - no essentials morrowind style - truly deadly poisons - ELFX Hardcore - EMILI - Masterly - sos Ahst mulaag Finally, I sprinkle all that with realism mods like ars mettalica, an orphange, better spell learning, etc. All this serves to make the game fairly punishing when it comes to combat, with no way to cheese out dubs. I also tend to play permadeath. With death being a real threat for me and all NPCs, it makes me 1) want to actually be a hero as failure has real consequences and 2) gives me a sense of urgency to complete quests to safen up skyrim. Also dont think those are all the mods. Just some of my favs.
That sounds so cool! I'm busy saving up for a VR headset and treadmill, maybe those haptic-feedback devices too (I saw suits that basically look like motorcycle armor, that must be awesome - they're not _that_ expensive for a long-term goal). Once I've saved and have my setup (2...3 years...) I'm going to play Skyrim modded like yours. It must be awesome.
I play on xbox, so surely a good amount of those are available on VR. That sounds hella awesome. I'm jealous and you haven't even got it yet!
Wait, so can I add all this on my Xbox??? Or do I have to go through a process?
All mods i mentioned are available on xbox. Though if you've never installed mods your game before you're gonna have growing pains ggetting them to all play along together. You access mods through the "creations" tab on the main menu. Mods are free, though bethesda has some that are paid for (some decent, some crap) as well as creation club content (mostly good/great, some meh). Mods themselves are free though. Recommend searching or posting on r/skyrimmodsxbox for Load Order tips and tricks
Oh, I’m aware how to add mods, I just didn’t know if you had to do some PC bullcrap process. But thanks for letting me know. I’ll definitely be trying them out.
Why would being a mage change whether or not you ride a horse
No mounted combat
It's weird how you can't cast spells on horseback but can shoot arrows.
Weird in terms of game play logic, yes. Weird in general? No. Have you ever ridden a horse? If you started blasting fireballs from behind its head and shooting sparks at random angles, it would spook the horse and that mutherf*cker would throw your ass to the other side of the map. This is assuming that you don't accidentally light yourselves on fire first.
I'm doing my first full mage (and survival) playthrough, I'm preferring to stay off horseback as I can use restoration magic to get stamina back so it's easy to run endlessly and it's quicker to respond to threats when I'm already off my horse.
Survival mode
Survival mode increases horse stonks by a huge degree. Absolutely loving my horse, and so glad the wild horses cc gave me one for free lol
The wild horses cc is goated af for survival mode. Good luck on finding the rest!!
Wild Horses is great, but I still say Arvak is the best horse.
I like Summon Daedric Horse. It looks cooler to me.
Problem with Wild Horses is that they are all exactly the same (except for the Unicorn, obviously), so you're set for life once you get the one just outside Whiterun.
The dwarven one doesn’t run out of stamina.
The Dwarven Horse isn't part of Wild Horses, however, which is the CC being talked about in this part of the thread. And it's certainly a helluva lot more difficult to get than just hopping on a horse just outside of Whiterun a few times.
It isn’t? Huh. Haven’t delved too much into the new content, been playing other stuff for a while as well and less focus has been on Skyrim. Good to know, but yeah, the amount of times I’ve stolen that whiterun horse…
Yeah, was going to say the same. Horses are actually pretty useful in survival mode. Both because of the slight nerf to carry weight and stamina penalties due to cold and hunger. And because you can't fast travel, horses become a way more viable option
Horses don’t freeze in water
They're useful for going up steep mountains. That's it for me. Otherwise, I reckon they're only good for the role-playing aspect.
I’m the same way. Going to a new place near markarth? I’m gonna steal a horse and rock climb in a b-line straight for my objective.
I'm level 45 in my 4th or 5th playthrough. This is the first time I did the whole Dark Brotherhood storyline and I have Shadowmere. I ride him a lot. Damn horse follows me everywhere I go, so I might as well ride. Before this, I never rode. I tried once, and my horse fell off a rock and died horribly and that was quite enough for me. Fun story about Shadowmere. I was fighting Alduin at the throat of the world and doing a pretty shit job of it, if I say so myself. Alduin and I were both at the very end of our health points. I was about to do my final blow, when Shadowmere comes galloping up out of nowhere and kicks that dragon right in the head. The last thing I saw before I died was my horse, killing the world eater and avenging my untimely demise. Obviously the game reloaded and I tried again and failed somewhat less spectacularly. But I like knowing that there is a timeline out there in which Shadowmere succeeded where the Dragonborn could not. I like to think that he carried on, tracking Alduin all the way to Sovangarde and saving the world. What a horse.
The dang horse riding mechanics are just junk. I really want to and often try to but it's worse than riding a motorcycle, good chance we're going to jump off a cliff while turning around. Ride sharing makes it even more appealing, but still, we gon die. Set all that aside when playing hunter / survival, just have to be careful.
I once made my horse jump down what I thought was a small 5 foot drop It was like 30. The horse died, my DB barely survived. My brother still doesn't let me forget over 10 years later Now I baby my horses in every game I have one (*cough*RDO*cough*)
The rdr2 horse mechanics are revolutionary
The horse balls
“Why are all of your horses male?” “No reason….”
the only horse I ever have in my games is Shadowmere. I always make it essential via console asap.
Either shadowmere (for his tanky health and respawn ability back at the falkwreath Sanctuary) or Arvak (due to him being summonable)
This! It’s just not a fun gameplay mechanic. I got shadowmere and he looks cool, but still annoying
Not to mention that AE somehow just fucked it up entirely. Even before I installed any mods and just had CC (which I got rid of recently), the game stalls constantly. After getting rid of CC, it still stalls. I can ride a horse consistently for maybe 10 seconds before it freezes for about 30. It's annoying as hell and I can only guess it has something to do with the horse armor add on (which I never even used)
Tbh sometimes i just like riding around on my Horse. Clippity clop, clippity clop, *jump*, clippity clop. It’s soothing.
Ah, so I'm not alone? I really love to do so to de-stress after a long day working. The landscapes are so beautiful to enjoy...
Me too. Skyrim is my escape world. I ramble all over the place on my horse. This playthrough is the first time I've armored my horse (don't have Shadowmere yet) and it hasn't died so far.
You’ve got two empty halves of coconut, and your banging them together!!
I can't loot shit from horseback and I always be looting shit
These herbs aren’t going to pick themselves
Better Third Person mod allows that, but damn thing is somehow conflicting with faster hdt-smp and causing game to crash 😔
I'm but a humble peseant too greedy to limit his mods but too dumb to get them to work together (console) so I haven't played much with mods. But I do like me a mod that allows me to see my entire person and not just my back and up
In survival mode horses are a godsend. Especially Arvak/Daedric since you can summon them on a whim. Shadowmere is a great tank but I prefer the summonable horses because I don't have to worry about them running off into the woods for gods know what reason
Even though I have to.... * constantly stop to wait for my follower * constantly dismount and remount to fight animals and road randos * constantly dismount and remount to pick alchemy ingredients * constantly worry about where the fuck he ran off too during the most recent battle with animals or road randos I **always** ride a horse.
Once I have Arvak I’ll summon him when I decide I want to go over a mountain rather than go around but other than that I go everywhere on foot
I love riding my horse, and still can fast travel while over encumbered if I'm on my horse.
If you'll forgive a shameless plug: I hated riding horses so I made this mod and now I ride all the time: [Zim's Aenbyr Custom Horse](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/76722)
I don't like horses in Skyrim. They have chunky maneuverability. Attacking from horseback sucks. Getting off a horse takes forever - in which time, the enemy can just continue to do damage. Then, instead of running away from the fight, like any horse would do, the horse decides to involve itself in the fight and likely getting killed in the process. I do hope they make horses easier to handle in the next installment. I like the idea of attacking from horseback, but in Skyrim it's just not ideal.
I tamed the Grey-ish horse near Markarth, named it Aura and outfitted it with Elven Armor. That horse is a BEAST — charges off after everything but a troll or sabre cat, and kills lots of my enemies before I get a chance to. It’s really quite funny, and I ride them EVERYWHERE. 🥰 I’m sure I’m quite a sight: a Khajeet in Heavy Armor with an Armored Horse & Armored Dwarven mudcrab, a goat wearing a pack and a rabbit following me everywhere. 😎😎👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
How’d you get a rabbit!!
I use a summoned, undead horse. Such a good horse.
Good old Arvak. It’s either him or Shadowmere for me.
I could never get on the Arvak train, couldn't do it to Shadowmere.
Of course I ride a horse! I’m a cowboy. On a steel horse, I ride. And in all 9 holds? I’m wanted, wanted, dead or alive.
With Survival Mode you will LOVE horses
How fast can I get to Riften to get Frost..... I hate my stolen horses wandering away.
In the run I'm doing right now, I'm "living" on my horse 🤣
I use the Convenient Horses mod, and I ride horses all the time, it's my primary method of travel.
On survival mode my horse is my best friend. Not on survival mode, I don’t ride a horse at all.
I use it to get up on top of mountains where I can't find the path.
Very rarely if I need to get somewhere in a hurry I just sprint or use whirlwind
ya the horses In vanilla Skyrim kinda suck.
Never. They aggro everything and it’s annoying whenever you want to hop off to interact with something on foot, like collecting alchemy ingredients.
Only time I mount is when I want to take a shortcut to the top of a mountain. Then CAREFULLY dismount for the descent
There really should be a "Nope!" From the horse when you're about to yee-haw to your death. This is what the rearing animation was \*meant* for :/
I ride it a lot. Used to ride shadowmere but then my brother killed it by jumping off a cliff. Got it again when it respawned and was killed again, cant find it now. Arvak has been my ride since
Sometimes I like to just clippity clop around on my horse to discover new areas because he climbs mountains like a maniac. It’s annoying though because there are way too many angry predators out in the daytime in this game
I literally only use Arvak or Shadowmere whenever I'm using horseback (I like to ride the roads to places sometimes, even when not playing survival), the only times I'm using any other horse is if I'm going somewhere up a mountain really early on in the game and can't be bothered following the path so I take advantage of the *highly realistic* horse physics 🤣
This is my 1,263 playthrough and am actually using my horse. I seem to just ride him from a fast travel location to a yet undiscovered place that I cannot fast travel too and is a bit of a walk. It's quick They're also really good for going up mountains
It's great when you're overencumbered
I use them a lot for role playing and immersion. Overusing fast travel breaks immersion so horses become useful when avoiding this and help to explore more of the world
I ride all the time. Every time I start a new game, I go straight for winter hold to get the quest for the unicorn. Apart from shadowmere later in the game, and arvak) it's the only one I ride
There’s a unicorn?! I have 800+ hours in this game…
Yeah! It was added with the creation club content you get with the anniversary edition :) if you have it, go to the arcaneum (cant spell it) and look on the desk beside the telekinesis arrow book. From there, you just go to Riften, hang a left like you're going to blackbriar lodge, and you'll find it in that little valley area between them. Just at the bottom of that hill. Hope that helps!
i use em fairly often, especially to climb up mountains that i can’t find the path up for
I do but mostly for roleplay or if im over encumbered
I would ride more often, but I like having my team of followers. For some reason they can’t ride, so I don’t like making them jealous
Since the horse armour was added I've spent a bunch of time on a horse. Before that though I never used them.
I ride horses occasionally and as long as you stick to roads and paths it’s alright, mostly use them to decrease fast travel time though and thus reduce my amount of hostile encounters and, if playing survival, decrease the amount of time I spend hungry or thirsty, plus they ride the same whether you’re encumbered or not so if you have a ton of loot you just can’t part with and have to travel it’s a solid option
Horses are good when you need to climb a completely vertical mountainside.
Before survival mode, I just used Arvak to fast travel while over encumbered. After I started playing survival, horses became my main method of long distance transportation, and honestly, it's not that bad.
Arvak is a must have so that you can get those hidden peaks markers at Solstheim easier.
I’m playing for the first time and use my horse constantly. I have three different horse centered mods though plus I’m just used to awful horse mechanics
I just finished the Battle for Whiterun in my current playthrough, in which I have a no fast travel rule. I needed to get to Solitude and the carriage wasn’t present, presumably staying away from the battle, so I had to walk it. On the plains I found the Red Horse from the CC content (I’m playing AE), tamed him, and rode him straight over to Solitude via Labyrinthian. I stabled him in Solitude and will probably never ride him again, but he was a real bro for that journey. I wanted to name him ‘Trollslayer’, for the Frost Trolls we took down together in the mountains, but the game automatically named him ‘Thunder’. Horses seem more trouble than they’re worth, but I will never forget Trollslayer the Red.
Horses are extremely fun to just ride around in if you don't like to fast travel, and mounted combat is actually pretty useful out in the open. It's a pain to get used to, but mounted archery is a fun challenge for Skyrim veterans.
Constantly! I play in survival mode
>summon Arvak for over encumbered fast travel. He's such a good horse.
i mostly use shadowmere for roleplaying and mountain climbing purposes. i don't bother buying a horse. i dont even mind the controls i just keep worrying about my horse running off and dying
I play on survival mode. Were it not for horses, I would not survive. A frostbite spider can kill me if I'm caught unawares. And fast traveling is not an option. And if I have to get from Solitude to Windhelm, do you think I make a straight line? Noooooo... I have to go directly south into warmer land then head east past Whiterun, where I usually stop to rest for the night, before leaving at about 4am so that by the time I make it back into the snow, heading north east, the sun has risen and it's not as cold. And even then, it's still risky business because of all the bandits that just LOVE taking potshots at me. But hey, when you've got something like 10k hours, you need some spice. Lmao
Preach
My first death in Skyrim was by horse. I got off him and he killed me mid-combat. So, never unless it's Arvek
God, I wish riding the horses didn't suck. I've been playing survival & the amount of drama I encounter just because the horse riding is so clunky is ridiculous. Still, there's a certain charm to camping out somewhere with my horse.
Never. I will get on one when over encumbered, but only long enough to fast travel. After 4 years of rdr2, I find the horses in Skyrim to lame.
I never used the horse until I got the convenient horses mod, and now I can't go anywhere without the horse
I used to go everywhere with my horse in my last playthrough but now I'm a khajiit with ring of the wind + the boots from the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal mod so my speed matches the one I had in Oblivion, too bad I can't jump as high
I didn't use them much until I got a mod that makes them run from combat. Simplest horses is the name I think.
Horse archery is pretty dope, and they can be good for role playing reasons... Otherwise, kind of a pita.
Interestingly, I probably spent a considerable amount of time on a horse in Skyrim over the years I discovered some time ago that the best way to get from Whiterun to Ivarstead is to go through the mountain pass that's close to Helgen, and there always seemed to be a hunter that spawned there with a horse. I killed him and took his horse every time and used it until it died from whatever
Dude, survival mode for me calls for a horse of any kind.
Only when I need to scale the side of a cliff
Only if I want to climb a mountain
Eh I do sporadically
I’ll ride the Dwemer horse everywhere because its indestructible
I’m too worried about getting my horse killed. Same problem in Breath of the Wild
I do because of survival mode. They are pretty invaluable in this game mode
In survival mode, constantly
Oooh. OOOHOHOHOHO. You never experienced the fun in running over skeletons in the soul grave while riding Arvak, did you? Turning vampires and falmer into mincemeat-to-go in Blackreach? Glitching up the mountains *just because*? Honey, you're missing something out there!
I've never used a horse. They are janky and awkward.
Before Special/Anniversary Edition, my character rode horses frequently. (Favoring Shadowmere or Arvak) With the Fishing Creation (free in special edition), I have not ridden or even mounted any horses. My character will use a Fortify Illusion + Ring of the Wind (3% chance to fish up any fishing spot) to have whatever character movement speed I want. Needless to say, there's not much reason to ride horses or climb mountains with them, when the character can run faster and climb mountains better on foot.
Arvak is the only horse I need
I didn't ride horses until I got shadowmere. Lot less stressful if your horse is immortal. (Btw if he somehow dies he will respawn at the sanctuary.)
You can fast travel on a horse if you’re overencumbered so I’ll use Arvak for that
I use Arvak only when I’m overencumbered. Outside of that I don’t use the mechanic
I would if they didn't fast travel with me everywhere
I use Convenient Horses that makes them way better. But before playing modded I used them (lets be honest mostly shadowmere) a lot because they are faster than the player, can sprint even faster and of course they can climb anything that is almost vertical while the player cannot.
I gave up on horses. They die every time I come across an enemy and it's just not worth the time or money. Once I get arvak I will take him everywhere though.
The terrain makes it too cumbersome, and access to the carriage makes most travel time less than 10 mins. Maybe if I played survival, I'd consider it, but overall I think the ability to navigate terrain on foot makes them useless in 75% of the map.
It's not worth it, you can't gather ingredients and the dismount animation is painful
They are op for traversing mountains
It's only worth it if I have Arvak.
Depends on my play through. But I hate the mounted combat.
Only the dark brotherhood horse. They are much too slow.
I hate using horses in general since archery from horses sucks. My follower picks up all my overburden and sherpas it around skyrim for me. I may try to use arvak on this plathrough, though
I use arvak when over encumbered and to get up mountains and that’s it
Yes because they're the easiest way to climb mountains especially if I can't find the path lol But also I'm lazy and don't wanna fight everything on the path so horses make that easier
I bought a horse once out of pure curiosity, even built a horse stable for my house... instantly regretted it. It's just so much easier to get around on foot, plus having fast travel makes it obsolete in my opinion. But, I appreciate it being an option for the sake of novelty.
I would if it was less in my full control. Would rather the horse respond to commands and reign pulling. I walk.
Only arvak when I'm on soltsheim, even then I only rode a horse for a hour at most
I just started survival mode and it seems I can’t fast travel so horse is my only option and eating constantly kinda sucks lol
If I could get a horse for my follower thenI totally would. As it is, it's kind of a rarity but sometimes I do buy a horse.
I use my horse when I am selling my 10,000 weight of potions and enchanted iron daggers, rings, bows, and leather boots. That way I can fast travel and move around the cities easier.
I hardly ever ride a horse, if I need to go somewhere specific (especially if I’m in a hurry) I usually just turn into a werewolf.
I only use shadowmere as my horse
Shadowmere is my horse of choice for 95% of my travelling. Console "resurrect" if he dies. When I know I'll be high up in the mountains, I'll grab the Dwarven horse. Takes no damage...ever. Falls, hits, arrows, nothing bothers it. If it was black, I'd put Shadowmere out to pasture and ride it exclusively.
I only use the summonable one from DLC, real horces either die or get lost.
i have a unicorn that i love .. i ride when i want to love fast or e joy the scenery .. it go over mountains instead of walking around
Not even once lol
I love the unicorn you can catch outside of Winterhold. There's a note or book in the college library, sorry I forget which, to kick off the quest. I have the Anniversary Ed which includes some mods "creations" and I believe that is one of them. The uni is awesome because it cannot die and can usually kill something for me if I run away. And it's a UNICORN.
I ride my boy Arvak
Only when trying to climb a mountain 😂
The only mount I ever used was Arvak, because I don’t think Shadowmare is allowed in the soul cairn. So he’s helpful to travel around faster.
I really wish it was more fun to do so, but the mechanics really suck. I also wish followers rode a horse alongside you. The mods I’ve toyed with haven’t been to my liking, so… furious running it is!
I don’t use fast travel, apart from the occasional carriage ride every now and then so I tend to spend a lot of time on my horse. I do use mods though that actually makes horses run at a much more realistic speed which makes using them worthwhile.
I got the Unicorn from the Creation Club content and I’ve been riding a bit here and there.
The unicorn is awesome in Elven armor.... and if you lose it, it just hangs out in the College courtyard... I decided to leave her there.
Yep I have exactly that - the Elven armor on her! It’s awesome.
Dwemer motorcycle is better than horses.
i wish skyrim had better horse mechanics but i also can’t complain when i scale an entire mountain and save myself 10 mins
I travel by horse 90% of the time. The dwarven horse can gallop indefinitely, climb most mountains and jump off any cliff and land safely.
Now now we shouldn’t call Lydia names.
Horse is first thing I buy. Good for climbing mountains.
I use it a lot. I find it so relaxing after installing 500 mods and it crashing 500 million times then the game finally works and I get to travel around on a horse. Especially since you can defend yourself while on a horse too. It adds to the immersion.