Which boss fight is harder in your opinion? Both were added by the DB DLC to give a challenge to high level players, but which is a higher challenge?

Who is this "Ebony Warrior"? Oh, you must mean Reflect Blows. Now it makes sense.

The EW was just annoying.

Karstaag was difficult and very enjoyable.

The Ebony Warrior. My fight against him took almost 15 minutes on master difficulty.

And I was too scared of him in legendary difficulty.

Ebony warrior because-
He regenerates health when fus ro dah'd off a cliff (probably a bug but it happens all the time to me)
He has a perk called Reflect blows... I think thats the name
He has Powaaaful enchantments and stuff
He is probably an aspect of *insert god name*

Ebony warrior

I found Kaarstag to be more of a challenge to me.

Depends. Mages who specialize in fire, will have an easier time with Karstaag. But less effective against the Ebony Warrior unless he unequips his shield to use his bow.

Warriors will have more difficulty with Karstaag due to his sheer amount of damage he can dish out.

So I shall base it on the two fighting each other. Karstaag usually beats the Ebony Warrior 1v1.

Reflect damage is his least threatening ability. Unless of course, you're using a weapon that does more than 300 damage. And even then it's 1 out of 10 hits.

His main damage comes from his 100 in one-handed + 70% one-handed damage enchants + crExtraDamage03.

I'm not sure.

The last time I fought him, I died instantly without being hit. I just barely raised my sword (around halfway through a power attack). This was multiple times during my fight with him.

Karstaag was waaaaaaaay harder. The Ebony warrior you had a chance to prepare for. You knew you were going there to fight him so you could conjure a couple of Dremora Lords, cast Dragonhide, etc. and prepare because he was an honorable warrior. Karstaag, that dude comes out of nowhere and goes all batsh*t crazy Leroy Jenkins on you. It was AWESOME.

Not even close. Karstaag was waaaaay harder.

I honestly don't know. I think I'll have to say Ebony warrior, because of reflect blows, and the cliffside that he fusrodahs you off of all the time, lol. I think Kaarstag was more fun, but EW is more satisfying, being such a formidable opponent of a somewhat equal level as a warrior.

Oh yea, and EW paralyzes you and gains health back a loooot. Definitely Mr. Divinity.

If the number on your weapon exceeds your health, 1 out of 10 hits will lead to your death. It reflects the damage you do, directly. No armor rating can protect you from it.

So if you have 300 health, and max armor cap, but your weapon does 300 damage, if the 10% triggers, you get the full 300 damage.

Like Hevnoraak said, it kind of depends on your character.

Karstaag wasn't too hard for me as my character was mastered in Destruction, and all it took for me was evading him while throwing fire around everywhere. It's even easier with Dragon Aspect with an Ancient Dragonborn being summoned a lot to make for a good distraction or even Conjuration, if you're skilled in that. To do some major damage, I simply used Slow Time and damaged him as much as possible with my sword before my health got too low. And with a finale, I finished him off with Fire Storm.

You always get folks say Destruction is "underpowered" when it's probably the greatest weapon against one of the hardest bosses in the game.

I don't know man. Karstaag with his Blizzard Stomp is a force to be reckoned with. Even as a Nord Mage that Blizzard Stomp is lethal.

Kaarstag probably is much harder, but I found the ebony warrior to be much more of an enjoyable opponent on my last play through, it was even funner because a legendary dragon attacked us 3 minutes into the fight. We momentarily joined forces to bring down the drake, and then we fought all over skyrim through day and night. we made it past helgen and all the way to the three standing stones. But ultimately, I lost after he managed to paralyze me with that bow of his.

This time, I'll see if we can make it all the way to the reach on my current play through.. I enjoyed fighting alongside him.

I need to try this.

How did you manage that anyway?

I beat Karstaag handedly at level 50-something on expert with Dragon Aspect. The Ebony Warrior forced me to summon Karstaag..

So I would say the EW.

The Ebony Warrior hands down.

I fought Karstaag twice and I still don't know what he looks like. Too busy hacking slashing and dying.

I Fus Ro Dahed him off the edge for the final hit, jumped down to greet his corpse, only to find he was better than ever. Knowing that I was screwed now that the only way of me killing him outright was gone (legendary diff.) I started to run and sought the aid of some bandits in a nearby fort, however I found that fighting alongside him was equally as fun as fighting against him. So I started to direct the fight west, and you know the rest.

I think the reflect blows perk was Bethesda's way of stopping people from using ridiculously enchanted gear to defeat him. And the bug where he regenerates health after falling off cliffs seems like their way of stopping cheap fights. I've also found his AI to be much better than regular AI. He is always on the offensive whereas regular NPC's just waggle their arms and wait for you to hit them. I wish all NPC's had that good AI, and used bash as effectively.

The reason high falls don't kill him, is because his protected box is ticked. This means he operates similar to followers. Only the player can finish him off. That or the player's conjured Daedra/raised dead as they are extensions of the player in a technical sense.

I know right? I really love his fight. I dropped a jaw when I thought I whooped his ass by fusrodahing him off the cliff. I was so smug...Glad I went there with everything my first time. I expected him to be tough, but [censored]. And later when legendary came out....damn.

Ebony Warrior by default.

When I fought Karstaag the first time I was in Vampire Lord form and threw him to his death in one move.

Yep, his regeneration and reflect blows were purposely given to him so he had a chance against most cheap tactics. I figured this out from uesp a couple weeks ago.