It is interesting only in words, in fact one of the worst mods, it is not clear for whom it was made, perhaps for those who were bored playing on Novice-Adept difficulty.

Firstly, the mod does not get rid of clone battles in any way, only different types of enemies can represent uniqueness. In the original, all this was exactly the same - the AI ​​either hits the shield, or waits for you to open up from under your shield in order to counterattack. Enemies with one-handed weapons for example. And those with two-handed, on the contrary, briskly go on the attack.
So, the mod makes this behavior not logical, but chaotic. Now a furious orc with a two-handed ax can stand and wait like a tank while you open up without trying to break your block and stamina. And a flat thief can start whipping you with a dozen weak useless attacks on the shield without trying to stop. Yes, the enemies really did not look alike, as if random types of behavior come to their minds =)

Well, why does the author need to shoot himself, so it is with an increase in the reaction to fright and escape. In the original Skyrim, there were quite a few situations when a wounded enemy, as they say, "pissed off to fight", and began to burst from you wherever your eyes look. It was incredibly infuriating, because you had to chase him half a map either forward or backward. And then return. What for? Now it’s worth hitting some dodger once, he already squeals and starts to run, forgetting about the attack. And that is by accident. Sometimes brutal orcs in ebony armor are terrified. And then you run after this fool, trying to get him in the back, which is not very convenient, due to the fact that the author for some crap cut the hitbox radius of all weapons. Run and slap the fleeing man ten times on the back.

Ignore pain - the author of the mod, you're a damn genius, if only you could come up with such potions. A spell that returns a normal animation to the game for a couple of seconds! Feel the difference.
Shaking the camera when hitting a hero, or an enemy, it looks interesting only in words, and only in the trailer. In fact, after the tenth enemy you meet, you will curse this mod, because EVERY attack will pull the camera in all directions, as if you had drunk three liters of beer. And there are plenty of enemies in these crypts and ruins. And on high difficulty, it’s like that in general, a test of nerves, when the battle with the draugr commander resembles the mahach of two alcoholics who are shaking convulsively from hitting each other

And fourthly, the reduction in armor stats, once again bravo, but in the original, the complexity, for example, Master, something does not make you feel like an invincible god. Especially at character levels above 40. When a Daedric sharpened to the maximum with three arrows is snapped by military leaders. And especially magicians - two spells and fly to the ceiling.
And in Skyrim, only boots can be enchanted for protection from the elements. Only boots or a shield. Two effects - it's still try to bring the enchantment to 100%. And if you don't want to, and if you're not a magician? To say that the chance of finding enchanted boots, ebony, daedric, or dragon, is somewhere around 3-4% of all uselessly generated loot? Boot with one effect, by the way.
Why do you reduce armor parameters, mod author? Have you ever run into a guy holding a Daedric Ax with a buff of 45 fire damage? Do you know that they remove 500 HP from almost one hit on the Master if there is no additional protection?

Oh yes, distance. Just the same, the original radius of destruction of weapons in Skyrim made it possible to fight, dodging enemy attacks. Not always, but often. This is the only thing that helps you out on hard difficulty, when fighting strong enemies, such as giants, trolls, orcs with two-handed weapons, and the like.
And now the author of the mod considered that a spectacular fight is to stand close to the enemy, and slap each other with swords, staggering with a twitching camera, with reduced armor parameters. So that you do not circle in the dance back and forth, from the enemy and to him, but stand and spank.

Here is such an interesting mod. I suspect that it is painstaking in work and difficult to implement, but completely useless and unnecessary, because it does not improve the combat system, but makes it even more annoying and clumsy.

By the way, due to the fact that after each missed attack the enemy begins to stagger, you can literally call everyone with one mouse button if you pump up the reserve of forces. If you miss such a blow, then most likely they will call you. At least experienced enemies. That is, we must forget that you made the legendary heavy armor there, and pumped up the skill to 100. Now you seem to be running all the time in a blouse and tights, bending from every blow, no matter what you are wearing.

All skills in the game are divided into three categories: combat, magic and thieves. This article will focus on combat skills.

The Blacksmithing skill is responsible for creating new items here. Offensive skills are Shooting, One-handed weapon and Two-handed weapon, and defensive - Heavy armor and Blocking. Activating the Warrior Stone increases combat skill growth rate by 20%.

hand-to-hand combat

In the game, in addition to various weapons and magic, you can also use your own fists. Damage in hand-to-hand combat is always dealt to the opponent's health, not to their magicka or stamina pool. Hand-to-hand combat is not as effective as other fighting styles, but it can still kill. If you play as a Khajiit and find yourself a pair of heavy gloves, then somewhere up to level 10, the damage dealt by the hands can exceed the damage from the weapons. It is important to note that bare hands can deal critical damage from stealth mode, but poison cannot be applied to hands. The distance of fighting with hands is approximately equal to the distance of fighting with daggers, the speed is average. You can combine hand-to-hand combat with the use of magic or a shield, striking with only one hand. Unfortunately, since hand-to-hand combat is not one of the skills, your development in the early game with heavy use of this style of combat can stall a bit.

Barehanded damage at the start of the game is fixed for each race. All races, with the exception of Argonians and Khajiit, deal damage by default equal to 4 . Argonians and Khajiit have base damage equal to 10 , and the latter also have a passive ability that increases the total damage with hands up to 22 . These values ​​do not change with level and are associated with only one perk - Fists of Steel, which can be found in the branch heavy armor.

Humans and elves

Base unarmed damage: 4

Total Damage: 4

Argonians

Base unarmed damage: 10

No additional bonuses

Total Damage: 10

Khajiit

Base unarmed damage: 10

Additional damage: 12

Total Damage: 22

Increase damage in hand-to-hand combat

The Fists of Steel perk adds melee damage numerically equal to the base armor rating of the gloves worn by the protagonist. The maximum base rating is daedric gloves, and, accordingly, the damage added by them is equal to 18 . Growth of skills or improvement of gloves in the forge does not affect this number.

There is only one item in the game that improves unarmed combat skills. It's called Fighter's Gloves. You can find him in the Rat Hole, the infamous sewers of Riften, with a friend named Gian the First. This item can be broken on the altar of enchantment and then enchanted with a ring or other gloves to increase damage from punching. There is also a ceiling here and it is equal to 14 .

Thus, the maximum damage that you can achieve in the game without the use of alchemy is 10 (base) +12 (khajiit claws) + 18 ( daedric gloves) + 28 (ring and glove enchantment) = 68

Weapon fight

In order to use a weapon, you must assign it to the left or right hand. Two-handed weapons and bows require the use of both hands. Shields automatically appear in the left hand when equipped, and cannot be reassigned to the right hand.

If you deal enough damage when attacking to kill an enemy, the game may show a kill animation. If you have activated perks Merciless Strike and Crushing Blow in skills One-handed weapon and Two-handed weapon accordingly, sometimes you will be able to observe the decapitation of the enemy. Finishing off occurs only in relation to the last enemy in the immediate vicinity at a certain distance.

Two weapons

This fighting style is characterized by speed and pressure. If you assign a weapon to each trigger, you will not be able to block the enemy's attacks, but you will be able to interrupt his attacks with a continuous hail of blows. A double attack takes about one and a half times longer than a one-handed attack, but the damage dealt is much greater.

The double attack speed is based on the weight of the weapon in your left hand, while the stamina cost is based on the weight of the weapon in your right hand. Thus, it makes sense to hold a dagger in the left hand so that the double attack is faster. But, most likely, using one type of weapon will be more effective due to the perks used.

The Double Whirlwind perk increases weapon speed not only when hitting with both hands, but also with one if you have a weapon in both hands.

If you assign a spell to the main hand, then you will lose the bonuses of combat with a dual weapon, while assigning spells or a shield to the other hand, the bonuses remain.

Power attacks

A power attack is carried out by holding the corresponding key. It deals twice as much damage as a normal attack, and also gives a chance to stun the enemy. Your stamina decreases according to the following formula:

Power attack stamina cost = (20 + weapon weight) * attack cost multiplier * (1 - perk effect)

The attack cost multiplier is 2 for a power attack with one hand and 3 for an attack from two hands (the protagonist inflicts 3 hits in a row).

Depending on the direction of movement, you can perform various power attacks. So, when performing a forward power attack, you will lunge, which will quickly close the distance between the enemy and you. Power attack while moving backwards can effectively counteract the blows of the enemy. Using the Fan Attack perk allows you to deal damage to all enemies in front of you with power attacks with a two-handed weapon while moving sideways.

The stamina that is spent on an attack does not determine the damage dealt to enemies, so if you began to spend less stamina on an attack, this does not mean that the damage has decreased.

With comparison of different fighting styles

Possible variations of different fighting styles are described below. The consideration does not include hand-to-hand combat, since it was discussed above, and combat with a weapon in one hand, because it is obviously weaker than combat with two-handed weapons.

One-handed weapon and shield

One of the most popular fighting styles, balancing between attack and defense. One of the benefits of this fighting style is the passive bonus to overall armor rating that the shield provides. Leveling the Blocking skill minimizes physical damage received. perk Elemental Protection in Block, reduces magic damage from elemental spells by half.

Unfortunately, to get the full benefit of this fighting style, you need to spend a large number of perks - 25 . Even a more “budget” option with only the left side of the Blocking skill tree and investing in the Strong Arm and Fighting Stance perks in One-handed weapon will require about 15 perks. For the same number of perks, you can use two-handed weapons more effectively.

Two-handed weapon

Using this fighting style will make you less protected than using a weapon and a shield, however, the benefits are also great: more damage per second, as well as truly devastating power attacks. In this case, you can still use the block, albeit not as effectively. In order to get the full benefit of this fighting style, you need to spend only 15 perks.

Two weapons

This fighting style is characterized by the least defense among all the others. The in-game tooltip states that a two-handed strike deals twice as much damage at once, but this is not entirely true, because it takes 50% more time. And the total damage per second increases to 133% of the base. The Double Whirlwind perk speeds up attacks with one, two hands, as well as power attacks (if the weapon is in both hands). With two-handed power attacks, you land a total of three hits in a row. The main perks for this combat style are Strong Arm, Fighting Stance, Double Whirlwind and Double grinder. It will take about 9 perks. The payback for such cheapness is the almost complete lack of protection and increased consumption of stamina, so you should take care of potions to restore health and stamina in advance, and act decisively and quickly in battle. Redguards with Battle Fury can do without stamina potions.

word warrior

Word warriors are skilled at combining a weapon in their main hand (because weapons in that hand are 15% faster) and a spell in the other. Word Warriors can be divided into two categories: some add magic to melee weapon damage, others use support spells. The former concentrate on the school of destruction and weaken the enemy at a long distance and, after the depletion of the magic supply, use the weapon. Others call on Oblivion creatures to help, heal themselves, etc. Since one of your hands can have absolutely any type of spell, from flame jet to illusion spells, it is quite difficult to say how many perks are needed to see the most effective work of the chosen one. style. The most "budget" warrior of the word is obtained after taking the perks Strong arm, Fighting stance and several from the school of Restoration (a full-fledged school of magic). This fighting style is very easy to combine with the above two-weapon fighting style. Master

Difficulty also affects the cost and duration of the Change spell Balance.

Fall Damage

If you fall from a great height, you will receive a certain amount of damage, which is calculated by the following formula:

Fall damage = ((height - 600) * 0.1)^1.45 * modifiers

The Soft Padding perk in Heavy Armor reduces fall damage by half.

The damage that other characters receive is calculated using a more "harsh" formula:

Fall damage = ((height - 450) * 0.1)^1.65 * modifiers

Addition

• Two-handed combat improves not two-handed weapons, but one-handed weapons.
• Unlike the previous two games in the Morrowind and Oblivion series, weapons in Skyrim do not require repair, cannot break, and do not degrade when used.
• Fighting is one of the points of persuasion. After the victory, the character will give you all the information you need.
• Swords, axes and maces are combined into one skill, and the required specialization is determined by perks.
• Using your fists as a weapon will not level you up, as hand-to-hand combat isn't tied to any of the skills.

If the main actions that the player most often has to perform are poorly implemented in the game, then no beautiful graphics, advanced NPC intelligence or a strong storyline will save it. For example, in an RPG like TES V: Skyrim such actions are: sword fighting, archery, and casting spells against the countless hordes of enemies that await your hero in the dungeons. Having considered all the advantages and disadvantages of the combat system in Oblivion, Bethesda Studios embarked on the development of a new Skyrim.

"We want more aspects of combat to be up to the player," says Todd Howard. “You know, I sometimes compare battles from our past games to chopsticks: you just swing them in front of you without any system.”

Bethesda offers the player a new dual-wielding weapon system, meaning you will be able to equip a weapon or perform a spell with either free hand. And this gives the player a huge choice of fighting styles: two-handed combat, two-handed weapons, the classic shield and sword combination, long-range weapons, and even attacking with two different spells. It will now be easy to choose an attack method using the new quick selection menu, which allows you to create a kind of "bookmark" for the player's most preferred spells, cries or weapons.

sword fight

Repetition is the worst enemy of developers. Therefore, players lose interest in battles when they have already chopped up such packs of enemies, and the battles themselves are so familiar and ordinary that all actions take place automatically. AT Skyrim Bethesda decided to fundamentally change the very essence of close combat and started with the pace of battle.

In the early stages of development, the guys from Bethesda watched a lot of videos, watching how people fight in close combat, and noted for themselves that in such battles there are much more pushes and attempts to knock the enemy down than in those that she implemented Bethesda in previous games in the series. Using the animation system Havok Behavior, the developers were able to get away from the monotonous battles by adding the aforementioned knockdowns and camera shake to create realism. Don't expect fights to be the old fashioned way with frantic one button clapping when the one with the most health wins. Not paying enough attention to protection, you may well lose your balance and fall under a hail of crushing blows that will turn the tide of the battle (and far from in your favor). Knowing when to attack, when to block, and when to just stand back will be the key to gaining an advantage in combat.

“The world that will surround you is very cruel, as is the fact that either your opponent or you will have to die in battle,” Howard notes. “I think you should get used to the fact that your opponents are like dummies: you kill them and go on calmly. And although, in fact, you cut off someone else's life, however, we do not want you to feel it and perceive it that way.

Nothing makes battles more brutal and dynamic than special kill animations. Depending on your weapon, the type of enemy and the conditions of the battle, you can use a special strike to finish off the enemy spectacularly. “During the game, you will have to take someone's life more than once, so we want this process to be dynamic and exciting,” says Howard.

As in Oblivion, the player will have many options for melee combat. You will be able to equip swords, shields, maces, axes and various two-handed weapons. The best option is to become a specialist in some type of weapon in order to be able to improve your attacks with the help of special "perks". For example, a sword specialist perk increases the chance of landing a critical hit, for ax specialists it adds a bleeding effect to the enemy after each hit, and for mace specialists it allows you to ignore the opponent’s defense for more powerful blows.

A good attack must be accompanied by a good defense. To make her less passive, Bethesda added the ability to block time-based attacks with a shield. For example, if you hold down the block key and hold, then your character will make a blow with a shield. If you use a block when someone is trying to strike you, you will push the enemy away, along the way "opening" him for a power attack. You will be able to block enemy attacks with two-handed weapons, however, it will be less effective than blocking attacks with a shield. Warriors who prefer the shield-sword combo will be able to use the shield perk, developing their defensive skills, which will allow them to gain elemental protection from spells.

Besides, Bethesda changed the ability to retreat so that the player could not use the easy hit-and-run tactics that were often used in Oblivion. AT Skyrim you will not be able to give the enemy in the eye, and then deviate, like some medieval Mohammed Ali. Of course, players will be able to dodge slow opponents like frost trolls, but don't think that this will work with all the enemies in a row. To escape from the battlefield, you will need to turn your back on the enemy and activate the fast run key, thereby exposing yourself to the danger of being hit from behind.

Improved spell casting system

Trying to adhere to the philosophy of improvement, Bethesda, making melee combat more tactical, decided to work on spells, inspired by bioshock from Irrational Games. Howard, wandering around the city of Rapture, was truly impressed by how Ken Levine's team ( Ken Levine) realized plasmids. He wanted to do something similar in Skyrim.

"Before, using magic didn't feel like magic at all," says Howard. “You had a separate button for spells that came out of your fist, in which you could easily squeeze the shield mount or the handle of a two-handed weapon.”

AT Oblivion spells could be cast with a single key button that allowed you to use them during swordfights, for example. By forcing the player to have a hand free of weapons and other items to use spells, we lead him to a more serious study of the magical arts. However, the ability to use one spell for the left hand and the second for the right raises the question: can we combine several spells? To which Howard only smiles: “We would not like to talk about it yet, because we are not sure. But we would love to make it happen. It would be just great.”

However, even if we do not have the ability to combine spells, adepts of magic and magic will not lack opportunities, because in Skyrim at their service: more than 85 spells in 5 schools - destruction, restoration, illusion, change and witchcraft. longtime fans TES-series may notice that one magical school (mysticism) has disappeared. This was done on purpose. “I always had the feeling that the school of mysticism was somehow superfluous,” says Howard. Spells from the vanished magic school were disbanded by other schools.

One of the most attractive aspects of the use of magic in Skyrim it will be possible to use spells in various ways. For example, you can send a fireball at an enemy from afar by holding down the emit fire spell key, you can plant a rune on the ground that turns into a trap when an enemy approaches, or you can set a spell for both hands and deal massive damage to an enemy, although this will deplete your supply very quickly magic. All of the above applies to spells of cold and electricity.

With technology Havok Behavior spells will look more spectacular than in previous games in the series. For example, if you cast a frost spell, you will see its effect directly on the enemy's skin. If you use a fire spell by throwing a fireball at an enemy, the area around you will be engulfed in flames, burning everything it touches.

Moreover, thanks to the new magic system, the player will be able to benefit from the constant use of one attack-type spell: fire will deal more damage, electric will drain magic from the enemy, and frost will reduce the enemy’s vitality and slow it down. This will give the player the ability to choose spells of a certain type against different types of enemies. For example, why use fire against a mage when you can drain his magicka and at the same time lower his health with an electric spell? “It's great that we've come to a point where we haven't been able to do it before,” says Howard.

In a battle with another magician, the best option would be to choose an offensive spell for one hand and a defensive spell for the other. In this way, magic fights become insanely interesting: you have to choose the right time to use an offensive spell, use reflective spells as a shield during enemy magic attacks and monitor your magic level, increasing it with potions in a timely manner.

Archers and assassins

However, not only magicians and warriors received various advantages in battle. If you prefer to shoot enemies with a bow or stab them in the back, appearing unnoticed behind your back, Bethesda I have prepared something interesting for you too.

Ranged weapons were effective in Oblivion, however, in order to hit the enemy, you had to put more than one arrow into him. Familiarized with the mod for Oblivion, allowing archers to kill opponents with one hit, Bethesda decided to adopt this interesting innovation. Now the shots take longer, but the arrows are more powerful than before.

As in Oblivion, you will be able to zoom in on the image of the target, and the longer you keep the bowstring taut, the more powerful the shot will be. In addition, arrows will now pierce the opponent's body with a more appropriate sound. However, so that the player does not run around the game world, carelessly shooting from afar all living things, Bethesda made arrows a rarer resource, albeit a very valuable one. Now you can't easily fire 50 Daedric Arrows in a fight without hurting yourself. And although the archer player has a very low level of protection, but if the enemy gets too close, you will always have a chance to shoot at close range, causing the enemy to lose balance in order to run away at this time, increasing the distance to a more acceptable shooting distance.

Stealth mechanics remain the same as in Oblivion, but now enemies will react differently when they detect you. Upon hearing or seeing something suspicious, the NPC will enter an alarm state. The higher the stealth skill of the character, the more chances he has to quietly hide around the corner or find cover in the shadows. This system allows you to eliminate incomprehensible surprise attacks on the player that took place in Oblivion.

Now, sneaking up on an unsuspecting victim from behind, you can deal a fatal blow to them with a dagger (of course, if the victim does not detect your presence), which was a virtually useless weapon in previous games TES-series. "Now that you've sneaked up on someone from behind, you can deal 10x damage with your knife," explains Howard. "I'm not sure we'll stick with that multiplier, but that you can deliver the killing blow by sneaking up behind you with a knife in your hand is a fact."

And while knives and daggers are still considered common one-handed weapons, the perks associated with them are in the stealth category.

Dragonborn Benefits

As a Dragonborn, the player will be able to utter the most dangerous dragon cries during combat. These cries may have magical features such as slowing time or summoning a dragon to help, however, in general, they are something other than magic, so that players feel comfortable using the cries regardless of their level of magic skills.

In general, if we add together everything that we learned today, we can see that Bethesda made a huge step forward in the development of the combat system TES.

The original article can be found

Weapon

Weapons in Skyrim are very diverse. The damage you deal depends on the weapon itself, your skill and ability to use this type of weapon. Hits with heavy weapons are dealt more slowly, so in terms of damage per unit of time, it may be inferior to faster ones. In addition, heavy weapons slow down your movements.

close combat

There are two types of attacks: simple and power. Simple attacks are faster but deal less damage; power attacks are slower but deal more damage. To perform a simple attack, click the left mouse button. For a power attack, hold the left mouse button.

Archery

To shoot a bow, press and hold the left mouse button, then release it to shoot an arrow. It takes time to fully draw the string after the shot. Special shooting abilities provide new abilities, such as zooming in when shooting.

One-handed and two-handed weapons

Some weapons, such as daggers, swords, maces, and axes, are single-handed, allowing a shield or other one-handed weapon to be wielded in the other hand. Axes, greatswords, or warhammers require two hands to use, so you can't equip a shield or second weapon. Two-handed weapons are slower, but do more damage.

blocking

To block from a blow, hold the right mouse button. Blocking with a weapon or shield reduces the damage you take. Shields are more effective than weapons. To strike with the flat - with a shield or a weapon - hold the right mouse button and at that moment click the left mouse button. A flat strike can stun the opponent, causing him to open up for a strike. It is impossible to strike with a flat head with a low supply of forces.

Armor

The overall level of your protection, or armor class, is the sum of the indicators of all items worn on you. The higher the armor class, the better protected you are. The level of protection provided by armor depends on the armor itself, your skill in wearing it, and the corresponding abilities.

End of the fight

If you are in combat with a friend or a guard, you can always surrender by putting away your weapon. If the enemy wants to, he will stop the fight.

“Block, counterattack, shield strike! Beat the enemy when he fell! She won't spare you, should you? In battle, the main thing is pressure, you must be the first to catch your opponent and not let him go down.

— Eduardo Corvus, "How to Kill Before They Kill You"