I wonder how you beat the hard bandits on legendary they kind of beat me up way too hard. Bandit outlaws kind of beat me up really bad and I can try to catch their openings but it is kinda hard get beaten up.

You need good equipment and developed skills to play at Legendary. You also need to develop your "player skills" and timing. This includes knowing when and how to move, and also how to use your weapons to best advantage.

To paly Legendary, you have to take advantage of crafting. Smithing will improve your armor, and enchanting it is essential. You need to keep improving your armor rating as you level up, at least up to the "cap."

One-hand weapon with shield is the preferred melee method for Legendary. A well-timed shield bash will stagger an enemy, allowing you to counter-attack. The block perks are very helpful.

There are a lot of different builds.

Some do not work on legendary, but as long as they make more fun then the other, just don′t use legendary.

The way of Illusion:

If there are more bandits then one, use fury-spells until only one is left.

If there is just one bandit, cast a calm-spell on him. Then, do a sneak-attack. If he survives, just repeat.

The way of conjuration:

Conjure a Frost-Atronach or Dremora-Lord to play the tank, and use a bow, like the bond-bow, to create damage.

Just make sure you are far enough to cast another atronach, if they manage to kill your first.

Both way have nothing to do with difficulty. That means, on legendary you just level faster, because you have to attach more often, then on a lesser difficulty.

There should be a lot of other ways to play the game, with the same effect: Higher difficulty is just faster leveling.

You can learn animations and how to move. It's not as hard core as in some fighting games, it's just a matter of seeing what attack will your opponent use and moving away from them, and moving in between them for counter attacks. Things that may help are better equipment, Ilussion, Summoning, or having a companion, to take some hostility away from you while you dish free shots, like pointed up above. Like Glargg mentioned, a build utilizing blocking also has an extra edge, as those can be used to prevent power attacks. These are especially helpful with some animal enemies which use power attacks that consist of them charging at you, which covers more distance, and is thus harder predict and move away from.

as stated in the above posts how you build your self up is a must if your playing Legendary

there is the x.75 Vs. x 3 equation in legendary

what this means is that you will receive triple the damage and only deal out only a .75 of what your damage rating says, ...............this is why its so important to have a good build & neutralize this equation or turn it to your benefit

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Below are tips from how this one approaches & plays a legendary difficulty game .........

Every opponent in Skyrim behaves differently in combat ........Deathlords have a very different fighting style to bandits for example or wizards or vampires & they will use standard weapons that belong to there class.

Bandits approach to combat is to use there archers to outflank you, and will send the melee bandits to confront you at point blank range .......there attacks are very fast giving you no time to block ........its the constant barrage of arrows & the occasional bandit that can wiled some magic that really hurts you ...........knowing this is a good start & will help you overcome many different situations in the game.

to counter this type of situation (above) is to identifies the archers and attack them first ............the idea is not to outright kill them but to get close enough to make them switch weapons from a bow to there secondary weapon witch is usually a dagger, now there damage has dropped dramatically ............look for any mages in the group and take them out first .........if you can

Speed is your best friend ...............any perks on skill trees that give you a speed advantage is a must ...........perks like Unhindered or like Block Runner that lets you run with your shield raised are a must ..........since you will be able to doge much easier and you wont be stuck in the same spot or walking every time you try to use your shield

Make your weakness a strength ...........playing legendary and as a warrior or a beserker or a archer is that you are exposed to attacks from magic ............a fire wizard can kill you very easy if you have no magical protection, this will always play in your mind and will make you approach combat differently ...............Max out the Alteration tree to 100 to get the Magical Resistance x 3 = block 30% of a spells affect & Atronach perk Absorbs 30% of spells that hit you, the Elemental Protection from the blocking skill tree, that blocks 50% of fire cold or shock damage if you have your shield raised, USE the spellbreaker for a extra 50 points protection & the Snakeblood perk from the alchemy tree for a 50% poison resistance

NOW you are a little TANK of magical resistance .............and you don't have to worries about wizards any more

Using legendary SHOUTS ...................on legendary you will notice that some of your shouts don't behave the same as they did on lower levels ..........not that they become weaker or anything like that, the problem again is you .............example

Using SLOW TIME ...........as Aprentice for example & you have 3 bandits ..........you execute Slow time and you can easily kill them all even before the shout runs out ..........the perfect assault weapon for taking out many opponents in one sequence.

Using SLOW TIME ...........on Legendary & you have your 3 bandits again..........you execute Slow time but now things have changed ...............YOU CANT take out opponents with one hit any more, you might have to make 3-4 hits to take out the bandit, this is because of the x 0.75 damage that you deal on legendary .............the most you will be able to manage is to take 1 or 2 bandits out before slow time runs out but not all 3 ...........so you will have to adapt to this change

Use the environment to your advantage ..............take shelter in a river or a high spot if your opponent cant follow you there ........draw opponents into spaces where they cant outflank you .............and always have or leave your self a way of escaping.

Stop & think before you act ..........don't rush in .....examine the situation first ........are you outnumbered? .......is everything in your favor for a positive out come ?...........or this a ambush?...........& always remember, he who walks away lives to fight another day

the below video is a demonstration of all the points above executed together (except for the shouts)

https://youtu.be/YBOzpa19oX4

As always, the best advice is to listen to Sah. She's the expert!

The numbers are worse. it's x .25 vs x 3 at legendary. x .5 vs x 2 at master

thank you so much abacus ................this one knew that .............giggles ..........again thanks your so right

ohhh shucks ......you combustible ball of flames ............ loves ya

It's a demonstration of end game gear with already high, if not maxed out skills. The whole trick is getting there with low level equipment.

this one could show you that too .................. BUT cant post the link here on Bethesda because the videos are rated +18

the videos was made after a challenge from this one good friend Rick

the challenge was can this one play with no armor on at legendary difficulty ..................so she did Forelhost - Siege on the Dragon Cult ........one of the hardest quests in the game totally nvde

only used a mace 338 damage & a shield 144 AR .................faced over 20 Deathlords in total, one Overlord & a Priest King ...and lived to tell the tail

45min of legendary combat full length & uncut, level 80..........no pausing, no magic used, no potions taken & NO DEATHS (the 1 video comes in 4 parts for better viewing)

if you want to view them you MUST be +18>>>>>>>>>>> go to this ones YouTube channel called Sah Vulon / Black Label Collection parts 1-4

Oh....I remember that very well Sah


What a treat (cough).....you're already gorgeous with armour on!


The combat was amazing....in fact always worth a periodic drool...sorry watch


As a matter of interest to a few survivalists....if ya like legendary play

My Contessa is now level 50

Dead is dead...on legendary from the get go

No healing potions used

No healing spells cast

Main Quest completed (plus lots of sides)

It can be done!

Its how Adella rolls


She fights like Sah, style wise, but prefers a regular shield to spellbreaker

However....Sah can kick serious butt...top vampires by the shed load in tight spaces



Oh and for the OP

This Won't help against undead of course....but you're asking about bandit types so....

Paralyse poison!

Not the wimp ass 5s stuff either

Brew your own as a master alchemist with fortify alchemy aparalls (Canis root and Imp stool)

Then you're looking at 25s+ poisons

Add mora tappinella or slaughterfish for poison damage on top (of around 250-300 points)

When they're down...bash their brains in

Works for Falmer, chaurus,,bears,spriggans and giants too

(No good for draugr, vamps, machines, skeletons EW, or Karstaag)

I'm having to play on Legendary on my build just to give myself any challenge at all currently.

Yes exactly you can avoid arrows from archers just by watching their timing they have a draw-loose-draw-loose cycle that can be timed and just dodge them. Two or more archers is more tricky but the principle is the same.

Once you get a feel for how thing are "done" OP it'll become fairly straightforward. But thats just down to experience. However I have no experience with fallout games so consequently keep dying at an alarming rate even on the easiest settings heh.