Soooo, this is the cousin to my thread on the best realism mods which yielded excellent results! http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1474801-what-are-the-best-realism-mods/

I installed 'duel' and bumped up the game difficulty in order to make combat more immersive.

BUT I did get a few "haha nubcakes, y u no maek install better kombat mods?!"

And I agree! I was hoping for an overhaul of sorts...

So I popped open the Nexus page of combat mods and there are tons of options...

Can you guys help me find what I am looking for?

I want:

1. A combat overhaul that won't tax my system further, I'm set on not reducing graphics as I really like how the game looks right now and I bottom at 30 fps in the open world.

2. I'm not overly concerned with 'new' attacks, like tons of animations and biting my opponent's face etc etc

3. I AM interested in better AI and slower, more thoughtful battles. Maybe like a realistic fatigue and health feature??

Thanks in advance! Love you guys <3

Uh oh. Is this my fault?

I really didn't mean to be harsh about any of those mods. It just depends on what you're looking for. Technically, it's worth trying them all out (with different characters, or they'll get messed up).

Very high-level IMO overview:

• Duke Patrick's : most intense and realistic combat, best AI by a mile due to a huge amount of scripting. Combat is potentially slower than other mods, which may or may not be your thing. And there are possible script lag issues (due to a huge amount of scripting).
• Duel: RPG combat. Clear winner if you want mostly stats-oriented combat.
• Deadly Combat: Quicker, more action-packed combat (damage to all parties amplified). Does some nice changes to stamina use and armor rating, too. IMO, the amplified damage is also a bit exploitable by the player.
• ACE : Has some combat features, but best if used with another mod like Deadly Combat.
• Combat Remastered: Great mod that took ideas from ACE, Deadly Combat, SkyRe, and went their own direction.

Most of the combat mods require extra mod "helpers" if you want features like Dual-Wield Parrying, Locational Damage, etc.. Duke's already has most of the expanded functionality from multiple mods built-in. This is a plus for simplicity, but a minus if you don't like how he's implemented things (or want more control over those features).

And there are a few others I haven't tried like TK Combat and SkyRe.

Thanks ompha! And yes you did inspire me. I simply went with Duel because it is the most popular combat overhaul, and I have enjoyed it, but with the other realism mods making my game very methodical I feel like combat ought to reflect a level of planning and thoughtful execution.

Now, you seem like a pretty big Duke's overhaul really devoted fan...that makes me very excited to try it....but you mention scripting lag, which also scares me...and brings up another question....should I be tweaking my papyrus? Because a lot of people have told me to do this. Would this reduce stress from all these scripted mods I am trying to run?

I am against locational damage for the very reason it was excluded from Duel, namely, the PC will always go for the head where as NPCs will simply hack and slash as always....UNLESS of course, they scripted the AI for locational damage.

If you have a good pc and follow the ini tweaks in the readme duke's mod runs with little to no script lag.

I cant use it myself b/c my pc is too old, but i have friends with newer pcs that run it just fine