Top 10 Hardest Enemies in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Now that I've taken on a couple of dragon priests I finally felt the thrill of a battle again. The two that I took on (from the dragonborn dlc) the jailer and the one from the digsite quest both managed to kill me. the second one stated basically forced me to use dragon aspect stage two since I didn't have the third word of power for it but if I did I would of needed it. Miraak however was actually a really disappointing fight. I did use dragon aspect but only cause I thought it would be cool with two dragonborns fighting to the death in there ultimate form but I guess Miraak was just all talk. only took me about 20 seconds to finish him and I didn't even make an attempt to dodge any attack. even when the dragon you have to use bend will on came I decided to take a breath attack to see how strong it was. even though the final part of the Miraak quest was pretty easy, the seekers and lurkers made it a bit fun. I wish I had a gaming computer so I could use commands to spawn in an army ...more

At higher levels, these are no more a challenge than any other on the list. But, if you're like me, and you did the main quest early, you'll probably remember the sheer fear you get while battling with one of these atop Skuldafn. And clearing out dungeons late at night, nothing worse than running into one of these guys at the very end!

Rahgot, Morokei, Nahkriin, and Ahzidal were the hardest Dragon Priests for me. Here's how it went

Rahgot: The most unexpected dragon priest I fought. Didn't have Kharjo with me and was level 33. Accidentally stumbled into his dungeon.

Morokei: Did the Staff of Magnus quest. Had Kharjo with me. Kharjo distracted him while I had to use ranged weapons since my swords won't work on him. Level 39

Nahkriin: The 1st dragon priest I fought. Took me forever to take him out. Didn't have any followers. Level 22

Ahzidal: He kept on reviving draugr and Kharjo nearly died. Had to change into beast form to defeat Ahzidal. Hardest Dragon Priest ever. Level 43

It's funny how Alduin is #12... For the dragon priest in the staff of Magnus quest, I was only level 10 the first time, and it took me an hour to beat him just by now and arrow hiding in the shadows and running away. I lost Lydia on that quest every time I played it...

Karstaag was the hardest at the higher levels (252) with the best possible One-Handed Build /EQ, he was the only Enemy who could get my health to a half in less then 5 seconds, it might be because he has a snowstorm phase at the start of his fight. But neighter the less no other one of the bosses could do that to me. Not that it mattered because he was dead very close after that phase

By far the most powerful enemy in the game: Wolverine-humbling healing factor, godlike hit points and punching power, countless immunities and resistances, can ragdoll you at will, and on top of that he can summon ice wraiths... not that he does really need them...

Level 90 spectral frost giant. Has over 4000 hit points and summons blizzards and ice wraiths in battle.

It took my character and two followers (Faralda and Meresine) 30 minutes to take him down by absorbing magicka from his frost cloak and missed attacks and pelting him with fireballs.

Easily the toughest enemy in the game.

At legendery difficulty he literaly din't have to touch me to kill. His ice cloack killed me in 2 seconds plus you have to consider his insane health regeneration and that the place you fight him in is very small. He was almoast unbeatable with my sneaky archer build because I had to use invisibility and change positions all the time so he doesn't find me.

I'm a little confused on why Ancient Dragons are number 2? I'm about level 53 and Ancient Dragons are not too difficult (still admittedly difficult). I would presume Legendary Dragons and Revered Dragons would be stronger and more difficult to kill.

Ancient dragons aren't that tough. Not as tough as legendary or revered dragons for sure. I just use dragon rend and kill them in seconds, granted I'm level 55, duel wield upgraded chaos damage daedric swords, wear the deathbrand armor to increase my one handed by 40%, and I'm level 100 one handed, but just duel wield power attacks and you will rek

I'm confused. I haven't fought one of these yet, but can't you use Dragonrend shout to make them land? The sword called Dragonbane that I use to kill dragons.

These guys have a 80% chance to kill me I am level 30 and full daedric everything! @! But arrow I use glass arows

Easily the most difficult "regular" enemy in the game. At low levels, they are a joke and easily picked off using a bow, but at level 70 and above, they will swarm you in well organised packs. Hardened "tanks" come at you head on blocking you (like offensive linemen in American football), while Archers and mages hammer you from afar. Individually they are probably not any worse than draugr deathlords, but they are almost always in much larger packs. Also, the way they work together is an example of some of the best npc combat ai I have seen.

Falmer will gang up on you and kill you fast. I sometimes have to run away from them. They look so gnarly though. I like to resurrect them to fight for me!

They are tough if your a low level even when I turned into a Vampire Lord they were difficult I had to spam Gargoyle to kill them.

I like to sneak attack them, bow or dagger. If they are in groups I distract a few by shooting an arrow far away or use atronachs.

I haven't fought the Ebony Warrior, yet, but I've heard he is the toughest enemy in the game. I've seen video gameplays and walkthroughs of people fighting him on Legendary, it was insane, I'm not sure if I even want to fight him. There's also video proof that the Ebony Warrior can kill anything, including Kastaag, Miraak and a Legendary Dragon...

I am currently lv145, maxed out deadric armour legend dragonborn swords with op enchants and I had a very hard time to beat this guy ( I pushed him of the cliff to be honest).
If you don't have tank build then you you will spend a long time killing him. The good part is that the equipment is OK and the feeling once you defeat him is great.

Had to bring a follower to beat this guy after he paralyzed me the first time and took me out. This time he paralyzed my follower and gave me enough time to get my vengence.

Not enough people have fought him to know just how hard he is, fighting him out of nowhere lik I did (and not knowing what it was) I died a total of 27 tims, in the end I needed to use cheaty potion abuse and a LOT of decoy familiars.

This guy is a beast at higher levels. His insane sword damage and his unparalleled variety of shouts (in NPCs that is) make him a force to be reckoned with. That's not even mentioning the dragons supporting him and his four time full heal.

A very hard boss for those who want a good challenge. He heals three times through the fight and in the end gets impaled by a angry Hermaeus Mora.

I beat him on my first try ( but of course I did wait until I was over level 120 to do the dawnguard quest line), it seems strange he is even on the list.

From a logic perspective he is tied for highest level entity (the other is arngeir who isn't an enemy)
From a lore perspective, enough said
From a gaming perspective, he has dragon slaves, has to be fought four times, and has many damaging shouts, spells, gear, etc

I sort of look up to him, don't know why

With the combination of shouts and the intensely high health, this is a very difficult enemy. I fought one at level 123 and died. I later got my revenge though.

I faced one of these in Legandary mode, level 105 and all maxed armor, still took me forever and my butt hole was clenched enough to make a diamond!

Not even close to as powerful if your a Vampire Lord Nord and it's a Legendary Frost Dragon.

Without a doubt the hardest enemy you'll ever face in Skyrim.

I was playing my third new save, came across a Forsworn Briarheart while I was level 2 with a Steel Sword and Iron Mace. I didn't even lose enough health to drink a potion, and killed him easily. I don't see all the panic about these guys?

I have been playing the same Skyrim game for literally years. And I was amazed that after all my work, all the armor, everything I had, I got killed in one hit by a Briarheart. Came back, took me 5 tries to finally destroy him.

Pain in the butt with red eagle one shoted me twict at level 44 with 300 heath.

These guys are easy.

I generally have fun fighting every enemy type in Skyrim, but I hate Chaurus. I would vote Falmer, but these aren't too difficult if you have a helper. And it is frustrating that even though I can take down Chaurus and Fledgling quite easily now at level 35 there are occasionally Reapers, and these are like taking down Chaurus for the first time.

I HATE these things! They're a nightmare to fight unless I use my high sneak skill and archery skill to take them down while Lydia goes in after them

What. I can't believe that the chaurus reapers and their mama in frostslow lighthouse are not higher...

If you avoid there bite attack, wing attack, and fire breath, they are quite easy. It isn't even all that hard to avoid his attacks, with the exception of his fire breath.

Imagine stumbling along, just trying to get some places marked on your map, then boom. It traps you in a cycle of running around a rock so you don't die

Elder Dragons are super easy! But of course that's coming from a guy in Daedric Armor and Daedric weapons who's killed all the Dragon Priests

Sexy ass dragon

Vampire Lord RKOs the Hargravens unless they are using Fire Magic.
But as a Vampire Lord on a low level you kill everything I went to fight a Green Frost Dragon and it didn't damage me much compared to when I was a Med level High Elf but I guess that's weak, by the way I recommend Dark Elf and Vampire Lord to avoid more Fire Damage.

Hagravens are weak. I killed one at level 15. It was long range sniping so it took forever, but still, not a hard kill.

Beasts with their powerful destruction magic. And can fight melee with their bare hands.

They are easy.

These are among the simplest dragons, and have a stupidly low health. I annialated one at level 8

These are quite easy.

Too easy! Even at level 2!

My sneak is 100 so I just crouch kinda far away and sneak attack them. They are pretty easy to kill.

Not really that hard. I beat him as a mage warrior.

The Dragonborn can master everything.

Higher powers can grant invulnerability, the means to walk through objects, and limitless resources.

All for the Dragonborn's benefit.

Let's face it, fighting the AI isn't much of a challenge. I killed everything else on this list with a hunting bow and iron arrows. How? I'm sure you can guess...

Now that I'm level 100 I've made my own new account and spent all my stats on health and I'm literally unstoppable.

Face your illusion'

While being a level 128, these guys still tend to put up the best fights among all the humanoid enemies. I ended up waiting and doing the companions storyline until I was around level 120, and these guys f $#! @ me up.

These draugr are so overpowered. 2 shots with the bow kill me as a level 60. I have to quicksave anytime I see them. And I fear nothing in skyrim more than them.

Fighting these for me requires lots of health potions and spells, arrows (or bolts) and running away.

For some reason most dungeons spawn them 24/7. Like ever since I reached level 50 I've been fighting at least 3 per dungeon. one time I had to fight 4 at once

I don't see these very often but they're really neat. I just can't stand that sometimes they drain my health faster than I can theirs

I tried killing my children, then Lydia came down and also tried killing them. What an entertaining moment.

Sometimes I wonder if they're going to form an immortal army and take over Skyrim...

Damnit Bethesda. If the children of Sky rim weren't so annoying, I wouldn't be mad that they can't be killed.

They are immortal gods

I've been killed in one hit and two hits by these things.

Hard if level 20 or lower without good tools and a follower.

I tryed to kill 1 although I'm only level 14 that thing jumped off the cliff and bashed my skull in I don't see why they have so much health except the troll I'm talking about was a frost troll.

These are easy. Blast em away with fire breath, and a broadsword.

Level 6 Use Fire spells, by the way I upgraded Destruction Spells so it might just be me using upgrades,

I two shotted them with fireball just use that or the sanguine rose will help

These are hard and quite common at higher levels. Dangerous.

I Think it's the most badass enemy.

These guys are just op

Annoying at high levels

He just pissed me off because he kept healing and running and turning invisible like a coward.

He's literally weaker than arch curate verthyr from earlier in the quest. but he heals like three times just like miraak so he's a pain to fight especially if you sold auriels bow like me

Actually not very hard. I beat him at level sixteen without one healing potion