Seeing a lot of complaints about the difficulty of Master mode. I feel like the gaming community has been conditioned to expect that a handful of abilities should be tailored to fit every situation. TES veterans know, however, that to succeed you have to know how to exploit your enemies weaknesses and minimize your own. Here are a few tips for getting through those tough encounters that seem impossible.

1) Don't be afraid to use your single-use items - don't horde your scrolls and potions. A bag full of scrolls is useless if you don't put them to work. If you get a scroll of frenzy use it in the next three pulls rather than consuming valuable potions and reloading the game over and over. You will get another one. It's not like it's the last scroll in the game.

2) Retreat, avoid, and attack from different directions - if you find yourself getting overwhelmed by a pull first consider if there is a way around it. Could you sneak past the bandits? Could you just run from the dragon or lead him to a city where you can take him on with support? Is there a choke point that you could use to take enemies on one at a time?

3) Use the environment - Take note of traps, narrow corridors, and nasty falls. The computer is dumber than you...hopefully. Remember that nasty swinging door trap that one shotted you? It might be able to one shot them too. Can you get a bunch of enemies on a narrow bridge and push some of them off?

Edit: If you would like to contribute, in the spirit of the thread, please number your specific insights.

it's not the computer that is dumber it's the pathing in this game. Want to exploit AI? drag them to a mountain/cliff/rocks. in a few jumps you'll have them lost, but you must also be very careful yourself as the floating gravity after jumping can get you killed rather easy.

if in a dungeon, just run until aggro breaks. never run forward and aggro other mobs that may be hidden, always back to what you have already cleared.

4) Take advantage of pathing -
it's not the computer that is dumber it's the pathing in this game. Want to exploit AI? drag them to a mountain/cliff/rocks. in a few jumps you'll have them lost, but you must also be very careful yourself as the floating gravity after jumping can get you killed rather easy.

5) Never retreat forward -
if in a dungeon, just run until aggro breaks. never run forward and aggro other mobs that may be hidden, always back to what you have already cleared.


Good input. Thanks!

First playthrough was a Knight and boldly stood to face the undead legions, but never averse to forcing them to come through a door one at a time.

2nd playthrough I was delighted with my thief in aiming not for monsters.. but the oil lamps over their heads...

Watch out for lanterns hanging over shiny oil on the ground.. its there to be used.. its there to be abused.

I had to pause and calm down after a train of 5 Draugr chased me in the "first" quest dungeon, and I wiped out the first volley with a dropped oil lamp, and finished them off with a swinging spike door.

So. Much. Fun.

Good stuff. I didn't know about the lanterns.

6) Range + Lantern = win - Watch out for lanterns hanging over shiny oil on the ground.. its there to be used.. its there to be abused.

7) Undead are stupid - Use a door to make them come at you 1 at a time.

If you are a companion user make sure you use them to their full abilities.

-meaning use them as bait as well as storage mules. If on PC, hold "E" while targeting them, watch for your reticule to change and use them to catch aggro, activate traps, activate levers etc etc etc.

it's a shame most people just let them follow and never actually make full "proper" use of their battle buddies.

since it is rare that they get killed, they are perfect testers for you, if unsure of an area and the possible powerful mobs lying in wait.

I can think of only 2x where I had gotten stuck with a companion and had to tilde and drop tcl command, both times were while exploring the far reaches of the map and getting a message about not being able to go that way.

8) Use companions effectively -


and on that note...

9) Network - different companions will have different strengths. If you find one you haven't used try them out for a quest or two and take note of their abilities so that you can use them in the future.

10. Shield Bash is a fast interrupt - spells, power attacks confounded by a quick bash on the nose. Bad Monster - Sit!

Shield Bash is also a good way to deal with mages. By bashing them, you stagger them and interrupt their spell casting saving you from being freeze to death or burn to ashes if you manage to keep them staggering before they cast any spell.

11) Deal with the mage -

Also, non-shield classes should either

a. deal with the mage first - by bum rushing him and cutting him down before he can do real damage. Usually if you approach from the right angle and get a power attack off you can kill him before he can take out too much of your health.

-or-

b. put an obstacle between you and the mage - either another opponent or a corner.

12. Get behind a swinging-axe trap and hold your shield up. Use two for confused turtle mode. The swinging axes will take care of the rest.

12: don't be afraid to throw your archer in the frey!

I was fighting a troll, and as we all know (something I forgot) they heal really fast. Too fast for me to sit on a rock and shoot him. So I was forced to get his aggro. I would shoot shoot shoot then turn and run. Rinse and repeat. If he got too close I would punch him in the face with my bow then run!

14) Save often and if combat is going well, save in the middle of it - Keep 10 saves on hand. Whenever you save save over the game at the bottom of the list. This way you will be able to go back to a safe point if the [censored] hits the fan. If you gain the upper hand in a particular fight don't be afraid to save the game in the midst of combat. Things rarely go right and often go wrong.

15. Just about every enemy you face has its tells for when it'll strike. Learn to spot these tells, and you likely won't even have to worry about blocking, as you'll easily parry their attacks while getting in several hits of your own. One example is bears, when they rear up and stand on both legs.

16. And if you're wielding anything two-handed, often times you can just keep up the offensive and wear your opponents down, even if they successfully block. Knowing how to swing a warhammer can be devastating in the right hands, even if your skill is low.

17. Even if you're not a fan or user of conjuration, it can be an excellent option to utilize, summoning even just a familiar or raising a dead enemy to fight for you. They can draw off aggro from you, and otherwise even help set up a pinch where one of you is drawing the attention while the other attacks from behind.

18. And if you're playing more of a stealthy type, you can use your arrows to distract and even lead the enemy to where you want them positioned, such as down a hall where you laid down a rune or three. Enemies will typically first search for where they heard the sound (where the arrow struck) and then start searching in the area. You can even use this tactic to take down large groups, by just leading each one off away from the rest of the group. Best of all, you don't even need to engage the enemy, sometimes it's better to just distract enough enemies to a different location so that you can just simply sneak past without raising any alarm.

## : Always be catious, When enter narrow path ways or thin lined caves have your weapon drawn and be ready to fight. Sometimes an enemy will spot you before you spot them!

20) Have a plan when building your character - Don't just spend your perks willy-nilly. Have an idea of where you want to take your character and how you want to get there. Plan builds that have a high level of synergy. For instance, a dual wielding warrior will benefit more from smithing than a destruction mage. A ranger who uses alchemy to poison arrows that he shoots from his "weakness to poison," bow is more dangerous than a thief that dumps a lot of points into two-handed on a lark.