LE [Mod Request] Tougher, more strategic boss fights

[OpenWorldAddict]

Before I got into the elder scrolls, I was playing a lot of japanese roleplaying games and well as several action adventure games. In those games, every boss you encountered you just couldn't win by hitting it constantly. Beating the bosses required you to strategize, figure out the bosses rhythm, and required the characters to work together as a team. On top of that, a tough boss fight would take time to defeat, some lasting up 1/2 hour.

 

Even in Legend of Zelda 3, the first open world game that got me into video gaming, every boss fight took some though to figure out how to defeat, almost like another puzzle.

 

So for the past ten years I've been absolutely enamored about the Elder Scrolls games, but I find the boss fights are usually underwhelming. It's the same in Skyrim.

 

Most of the bosses in Skyrim are just higher level creatures that similar to what you've been facing the entire dungeon. The fights take little thought, little strategy, and after spending hours in the dungeon, the fights are over too quick. All you are really doing is going in, dealing as much as damage as possible; then retreating, healing, then diving back in (rinse and repeat) until the enemy falls. If you have several followers with you, the boss fights are over even quicker.

 

I would like a mod that adds tougher boss fights that take strategy and thinking to take down. A long, tough 20 minute boss fight at the end of a large dungeon that took you 2 hours to explore, would feel so satisfying, especially if the boss took you (and/or your party) to the brink of death.

 

Possible boss ideas:

 

A magical boss summons creatures to help, and is impervious to attack (like a ward or something (physical or magical) until the summoned creatures are dead. After all the summons are gone, you have 60 seconds to deal damage before he summons more.

 

A boss your fighting is tough as nails and doesn't recieve a lot of damage from you. Maybe you have to do something to lower it's defenses, or maybe you have to find out what element it is weak against.

 

maybe the boss your fighting has multpile parts and the outer parts protect the inner parts from damage, and it has the ability to regenerate those outer parts after a while.

 

I could go on and on with ideas, but I think you get my drift. Tougher bosses that take longer to defeat, and requires strategic thinking to take down. That is what I am asking for.

 

Right now, the only boss fights in Skyrim that take any strategy are:

Some of the Dragon Priest fights (in particular I am thinking of the fight against Morokei in Labyrinthian)

Harkon

Miraak

Ancano

 

My hope is that someone with modding talent can change this and make every single boss fight fun and unique.

Edited February 4, 2015 by OpenWorldAddict

[Qwesar]

I was going to make a mod like this. To give bosses more HP, stronger versions of spells and custom epic music, but its a really ambitious undertaking, there are a lot of bosses and it takes a lot of work to make them epic. There are some mods that make a single epic boss fight like World Eater Beater. There is a mod called Revenge of the Enemies which adds powerful spells to some enemies.

 

The boss list is quite lengthy:

Alduin

Ahzidal

Ancano

Curalmil

Dukaan

Durnehviir

Ebony Warrior

Guardian Saerek

Guardian Torsten

Halldir

Hevnoraak

Jyrik Gauldurson

Karstaag

King Olaf One-Eye

Krosis

Krosulhah

Kruziikrel

Lord Harkon

Mirmulnir

Miraak

Mikrul Gauldurson

Morokei

Naaslaarum

Nahagliiv

Nahkriin

Otar the Mad

Rahgot

Red Eagle

Relonikiv

Sigdis Gauldurson

The Forgemaster

Vighar

Vokun

Volsun

Voslaarum

Vuljotnaak

Vulthuryol

Warlord Gathrik

Zahkriisos

[OpenWorldAddict]

I am not just talking about named bosses, I am also talking about generic bosses as well. Like the boss at the end of Bleak Falls Barrow or Ustengrav. The boss at the end of Bleak Falls Barrow was especially diappointing because it is the first boss of the main quest.

 

I wonder if it is possible to give any of bosses modded spells like from the Apocalypse spell mod, or Grimoire Spell Package.

 

I also know that the More Draconic Dragon Aspect mod makes Miraak more challenging. I don't know if any vampire lord mod usallly focused on making playing as a vampire lord more powerful also makes Harkon more challenging.

 

Some of the bosses you mentioned were named dragons, and for that either Deadly Dragons or enhanced mighty dragons with the Dragon Combat Overhaul is a no-brainer.

 

It is obvious to me that to make all the bosses (including the un-named generic bosses) more challenging using individual mods would require a ton of plugins, and that is just for the bosses alone without immersion mods, skill and perk overhaul mods, world beautification and substance filler mods, and extra content mods. Thus I think it would be best just to have one mod to make boss fights more challenging and strategic, and then have some other mods compliment it by giving the bosses more health and armor, new spells, etc; without requiring a huge number of mods for the complete experience.

Edited February 4, 2015 by OpenWorldAddict

[Seattleite]

You know, I was already doing this in my personal mod (not uploaded yet, still an alpha), I can make an effort to get *every* boss, but that's far from the only thing it does so that might not be ideal for you. Quick summary on boss info, though:

 

Dragons:

Absolutely beastly. While you do more damage in this mod, their health has improved much more than your damage has, and their breath does much more damage. They regen health in combat, and while there's no single effective strategy, even a regular dragon encountered at a high level takes some effort. The first dragon you fight will probably be too much for you until you've done some levelling.

 

Dragon Priests:

Fast magicka regeneration, high armour ratings and magic resistance. Tend to use wards and cloak spells, and many of them hit like a truck.

 

Harkon:

Has every effect on the vampire lord tree. This means he regens fairly quickly, can heal himself, deals poison damage with his claws, is impossible to sneak around, can make himself temporarily invulnerable, can summon gargoyles and can paralyze Serana. And, of course, he has high health and teleports. He was already a pretty good boss, though. He just needed to be tougher and now he is.

 

Miraak:

His tentacle attack now slows in addition to poison (the area effect version slows for longer, but does less poison damage), he also regenerates health in combat, his summoning abilities have been boosted, and I'm looking into giving him a rotating "barrier change" ability similar to Jyrik but stronger.

 

Jyrik Galdurson:

Jyrik has been made stronger, gained the ability to heal himself, massively resists physical attacks, and rotates his elemental cloak periodically. When he has his fire cloak up (which is VERY powerful), he automatically summons a flame thrall, he's immune to fire and takes quarter damage from shock. When he has his frost cloak up (also VERY powerful), he automatically summons a frost thrall, he's immune to frost and takes quarter damage from shock. When he has his shock cloak up (again VERY powerful), he automatically summons a storm thrall, he's immune to shock and takes half damage from fire and frost.

 

Sigdis:

Does his stupid teleporty thing, and hits you with unrelenting force every time he appears. However, he also heals himself every time he teleports, and hitting his decoys also heals him. It can be hard to make mistakes in this fight and still be doing more damage to him than he's healing by.

 

Mikrul:

Is much more capable as a summoner, and is overall stronger. They can't all be winners, folks.

 

Generic bosses:

Being intended as a boss now automatically gives them stronger level scaling (the minimum is the same, but there's no maximum and their mult is higher than normal). They also get a larger health, magicka and stamina offset.

 

I haven't gotten to the others yet. I'll look through the list and see which ones I need to work on, and I'll try to have it up this week. (I never get anything up on time, though.)

[OpenWorldAddict]

I also have an idea of how to make dragon priest battles more interesting.

 

One of the large spell mods had a dispel spell to get rid of enemy buffs, so one of the ideas is to give dragon priests a powerful buff that make them impervious to physical damage.That combined with the spell ward would mean that you have to dispel either the ward or the buff in order to damage them. Couple that with the ability to summon leveled draugr to help them means that theee bosses will keep you on your toes for quite some time.

 

Also, do Dragon Priests have the ability to use dragon shouts? they shoulld if they don't already.

 

Talking about Harkon, he should also be able to raise zombies as well as cast some of the most powerful spells available with the Dawnguard dlc, like being able to summon creatures from the soul cairn.