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Notable Mods
1 - Graphical Improvements
The graphics and visual improvements in this list are based on the improvements brought by The Phoenix Flavor. Below are some mods that have been added to further enhance the graphics and visual effects.
Enhanced Volumetric Lighting and Shadows
“Skyrim’s shadows and by extension volumetric lighting (VL) aren’t synchronized with the sun all the time, during sunrise/sunset they disconnect from the visible sun. EVLaS fixes this problem by synchronizing the shadows with the visible sun for the entire duration of the day.”
This mod has a pretty drastic effect on the entire imagespace of the game in practice. The rays of light from the sun and moon are now very realistically cast based on the time of day, influenced perfectly by mountains or any other large objects in the way.
Shadow Diffusion
“This is a reasonably simple SKSE plugin which adjusts how shadows look so that they look more correct in cloudy and overcast lighting situations. Clear weather is unaffected.”
Simply put, this mod will soften/diffuse shadows when the weather outside would not cast such a sharp shadow. To understand best, check out the images on the mod page, or get in game and see for yourself!
Storm Lightning
“This mod is an SKSE plugin remake of Minty’s Lightning During Storms mod…It’s scalable to allow up to 50 sheet lightnings and 50 fork lightnings per second. It can summon these lightnings on up to 31 cells distance radius. This results in a more natural storm weather experience”
This mod causes lighting bolts and sheet lighting to strike during thunderstorms, as actual entities in the world. You can even take damage from the lightning if it so happens to strike near you! (this will not kill you). Overall, this mod enhances the atmosphere of stormy weather immensely, which is also expanded upon by the already-present Cathedral Weathers mod.
Wonders of Weather Replacements
Wonders of Weather is a mod which implemented some simple weather effects. We are NOT using this mod, instead we are using three different mods that implement it’s effects in safer and better-looking ways.
Splashes of Storms
This very simple mod/SKSE plugin adds splashes and ripples when raindrops hit surfaces. Splashes will only appear within the player’s view, reducing FPS impact. The mod also disables the fake ripple texture/shader on water, and adds real displacement based rippled to water when raindrops land on it.
Rainbows Remade
“This mod adds rainbows to the game…Rainbows appear if the weather changes from rainy to sunny within an hour between 7:00am and 10:30am or between 1:30pm and 5:00pm, with a default probability of 25%”
Shooting Stars
“Shooting stars aka fragments of Aetherius appear in various sizes and fall from various positions in the sky at night (8:30pm to 6:00am). The general direction they fall in will change on a monthly basis. Meteor showers (shooting star frequency increased) are guaranteed to occur during certain nights of the year. The dates they occur on coincide with the actual meteor shower dates of Earth.”
This mod, as described above, adds shooting stars and meteor shower events to the game.
Enhanced Blood Textures
“Bloodier combat with higher resolution, detailed decals. Additional features such as killmove animation spasms, low health blood trails, damage based blood spatters, blood pools, and green blood for spiders and oil for machines.”
This mod overhauls not only the textures of blood in the game, but also the way it spills onto the ground after you injure an enemy, or get injured yourself. Every time a hit occurs, blood will spill onto the ground. Overall, this mod is one piece of the cake that is enhancing the gore in this mod list.
Sanguine - Enhanced Blood Retexture
This mod is a retexture of the blood textures from Enhanced Blood Textures, giving them a much more realistic tone that blends with surfaces it is splatted onto much better. Overall a massive improvement over the original textures.
Dynamic Impacts - Slash Effects
“This mod modifies the Impact Data Set of the vanilla Skyrim game and adds new impact particle effects…Impacts now have unique particles for each skin type: Flesh, Metal Armor(Dwarven), and Bone.”
Dynamic Impacts overhauls the effects that occur when you strike an enemy or object with a weapon. In doing so, you are not only given a very nice visual effect that changes depending on what you hit, it also acts as a hitmarker for enemies.
Maximum Carnage
“Maximum Carnage is a gore mod made for those who want a more bloody and gory Skyrim”
This mod adds a wide array of gore effects that can take place upon killing an enemy with a power attack. These can range from smashing their head into multiple tiny pieces that go flying everywhere (eyeballs included!), chopping off a Troll’s arm, to spilling a bandit’s guts on the ground. This mod does NOT hold back in any regard. Humanoid NPCs are supported among a very wide variety of other creatures in the game. This mod only adds carnage upon killing with melee weapons. The next mod, covers what happens upon magical death.
Frozen Electrocuted Combustion
“Applies visual effects to NPCs and the player, when killed by magic status effects…air, dragons, drain, fire, frost, fear, lightning, poison, soul trap, steam and sun damage.”
Similar to Maximum Carnage, this mod adds a variety of effects to NPCs when they are killed, except this one adds effects for those killed by magical effects. These are extremely high quality and leave behind a corpse that leaves no stone unturned when it comes to how they met their demise.
Dirt and Blood - Dynamic Visual Effects
“Your character will accumulate dirt and blood dynamically, which you can clean by swimming, standing in the rain or taking a bath. The effects are mostly visual only and do not affect gameplay (to a large degree). NPCs will also get bloody as a result of battles.”
This lightweight mod adds visual effects for blood and dirt. Dirt will slowly accumulate on your body over time, and blood will accumulate as you battle enemies. You can use a Bathing power to bathe in any body of water (most Inns will have a tub you can use), or you can just swim around/run in the rain the get some of it off. You will incur a small speech debuff if you remain bloody/dirty.
Footprints
“Adds footprints to the player, NPCs, and creatures. With particle FX! Currently for snow and ash.”
This mod adds footprints that will be placed on snow or ash when you or an NPC walks over those surfaces. Horses and other animals will also leave behind tracks. Big immersion booster!
SPID for Footprints
This addon to Footprints utilizes Spell Perk Item Distributor to distribute the spell that Footprints uses to place footprints. This is markedly more efficient than the cloak spells used by Footprints.
ENB Lights for Effect Shaders
“SKSE plugin that adds enb lights to (most)all particle based effect shaders. Supports effect shaders from all mods, no patches or conflict resolving needed.”
This mod adds light-emitting ENB visual upgrades to any effect shaders in the game. This allows things such as spells is in your hand to illuminate your surroundings. This mod is also used alongside a very wide variety of mods that adds similar ENB light to other things that would not have gotten them under this mod. Overall, these mods add a very large immersion boost to the game, allowing most things that should emit to light to do so.
2 - Total Combat Overhaul
This mod list has a heavy focus on improving the third-person combat experience. Over the past few years, there has been an emergence of a large amount of game-changing mods in the combat/animations scene. Below you will find the notable mods that overhaul combat in this list. Some of these are regarding animations, but only for combat-based animations.
True Directional Movement
“Overhauls the third person gameplay similarly to modern action RPGs, entirely through SKSE. Move and attack in any direction. Includes a custom target lock component and an animated target reticle widget, target headtracking, projectile aim support during target lock, mount support and more!”
This mod brings an entirely new level of play to the Third-Person experience. You are able to move and attack in any direction at any time, whether you have your weapon out or not. This allows you to be very tactical with your positioning, executing attacks from angles that would not have been possible in vanilla Skyrim.
TDM introduces a Target-Lock feature that is built to work perfectly with the above movement systems. With a simple hotkey, you can lock on to the enemy nearest to the center of your screen. Your movement will then be generally centered around that enemy, similar to when locking onto an enemy in Souls games. This can allow you to perform very fun and effective maneuvers involving sprinting around your opponent, with your camera and character automatically flipping back around to face the enemy. It can take some time getting used to fighting this way, but the experience is MUCH more enjoyable.
TDM also overhauls the experience on Horseback, improving the directional movement and camera significantly. Mounted archery has also been made much easier to use, especially in combination with the above Target-Lock feature.
The mod also allows you to swim up and down with the L-ALT and L-CTRL keys respectively, without having to look up or down. These actions also come with unique animations for swimming up/down, and improve the swimming experience considerably.
Another feature of the mod is the Player Headtracking feature. Your character will automatically look in the direction you are facing with your camera (provided you’re not looking behind your character, unless you’re an owl?). If you are locked on to an NPC, your character will look at them instead. Nothing boosts the connection to your character more than seeing them look exactly where you are looking.
Overall, this mod is probably one of the best mods ever made, and is a stable in any list intent on making third-person gameplay a blast.
SmoothCam
“SmoothCam adds a frame-interpolated third-person camera to Skyrim Special Edition, with well over a hundred different user configurable options and a preset system to let you easily swap between completely different camera setups.”
SmoothCam completely overhauls the way the third-person camera in Skyrim works. Upon loading into the game, you will immediately notice that the camera now feels less attached to your character, and is “lazily” following the player and your camera movements. This improves the entire game experience most certainly, but these changes improve combat in third-person immensely.
The mod is completely configurable, with the ability to create and load other user’s presets. The mod list comes pre-loaded with my own custom preset, but you can choose between additional presets that were added to the list, or create your own!
This mod, in combination with True Directional Movement, bring the movement and camera in third-person up to modern standards and beyond.
MCO - Modern Combat Overhaul
“Skyrim shares the same mechanics for 1st and 3rd person. It doesn’t translate well and created something you never see in modern games: the ice skating combat. You move freely during the attacks, like in a top-down 2D game. Conventional mods could only limit it by reducing the movement speed…(this mod implements) Chainable power attacks, animated charged attacks, animated transitions and non linear move-sets are all available in one mod for 0 performance cost due to its behavioral nature”
MCO - Modern Combat Overhaul completely changes the third-person combat experience. As described by Distar, vanilla Skyrim’s combat suffers from the “ice-skating issue”, where it almost appears as though the player is ice skating while swinging their weapon around. MCO fixes this by implementing a system where animations have movement data associated with them. This means that animations can be made that will make the character takes steps when attacking, or any other number of locomotive actions. Through the use of a variety of animation packs covering every weapon type, including mod-added weapons, this mod completely transforms the feeling of third-person combat.
Through the use of the other mods, which you will find further in this list, these animations are utilized by enemies!
Elden Rim Moveset Collection
An animation pack designed for MCO. This animation pack covers Fists, Swords, Daggers, War Axes, Maces, Greatswords, Battleaxes, and Warhammers. It also contains unique dual-wielding animations for Swords, Daggers, War Axes, and Maces. This animation pack serves as the base for our combat animations. Their style is based on (if not copied) from Elden Ring.
Edgemaster Animations
Another MCO animation pack. This pack also covers similar weapons to Elden Rim Moveset Collection, but those are overridden. We are using this animation pack to fill in some of the missing weapons. These include Rapiers, Claws, Scimitars, Katanas, Spears, Pikes, Halberds and Quarterstaves. These weapon types are all added by our weapon mods, and they utilize the animations added by this mod.
ER Katana
This mod adds a unique moveset for Katana weapons when they are one-handed, overriding animations from Edgemaster.
ER Rapier
This mod adds a unique moveset for Rapier weapons when they are one-handed, overriding animations from Edgemaster.
Skypia Aramusha Dual Katana Moveset
This mod from Skypia’s “For Honor” series adds a Dual Katana moveset stylized after the “Aramusha” class in For Honor.
Nobushi I Spear Moveset
This mod adds spear combat animations for MCO. These will apply to Halberds, Spears, Pikes, and most other polearm weapons.
Mixed Scythe
This mod adds scythe combat animations for MCO. Some of our weapon mods add scythes, and they will utilize this animation.
SCAR - Skyrim Combos AI Revolution
“SKSE plugin that brings up the modern (action) game‘s combos attack AI into Skyrim…The vanilla Skyrim game engine does not have the concept of combos attack at all, except the right to left and left to right swing attack…SCAR introduces a dynamic and highly customizable AI attack system to the game…NPCs would check the range of distance and angle as well as other conditions before every strike, pick up the attack action that meet the criteria, then perform it.”
In short, this mod allows enemy NPCs to use the movesets from MCO - Modern Combat Overhaul, and to use them in smart and intelligent ways. You will find that enemies will now combo the fuck out of you! Enemies will intelligently use any MCO moveset that they can use based on their equipped weapon. All of the MCO animations that we are using in this list fully support SCAR, and you will see them used by the enemy.
Dodge - MCO
This mod is arguably the smoothest and most well-integrated dodge mod that exists. It adds a step and roll dodge, which can be used by pressing space or double tapping space respectively. These dodges give you invincibility frames the moment they are used, for a very short time. This way, you can dodge most any attack with good timing. The default animations are the best in my opinion. Most of the animation packs I found had far too much of a recovery delay after dodging, making them almost unusable.
The downside to this mod, is that it does NOT work in first person at all. Sorry first person players.
No Saving in Combat
This mod is very simple. It prevents you from saving manually or with F5 while you are in a combat state. I have added this mod to this list mostly to curb my save-scumming behaviors. I believe that if you suffer from save-scumming as well, this mod can help you to. You can safely disable this mod BEFORE starting a playthrough, but it is NOT advisable to remove it during a playthrough. Do so at your own risk!
Wildcat - Combat of Skyrim
“Wildcat is a streamlined, yet full featured combat overhaul. It makes combat more dangerous and visceral by increasing lethality, adding injuries and context sensitive stagger and making combat AI more responsive and aggressive.”
Wildcat has been a staple combat mod in load orders everywhere for some time now. Even with the tidal wave of new combat mods, it still has features that we can utilize in this list. Injuries can be applied to you or enemies when you take a hit, giving you a small debuff that pertains to the injured body part until you have reached full health. Wildcat also improves the enemy AI through combat styles and game settings.
We are also utilizing some extra features such as Attacks of Opportunity, boosting damage if you strike while an enemy is attacking. Features such as Timed Block and stamina consumption on normal attack are disabled, in favor of the features implemented by the next mod on our list.
Valhalla Combat
“Script-free timed blocking, projectile parrying, stun and execution, and non-intrusive stamina management to push Skyrim’s combat to modern standards.”
Valhalla Combat is a newer combat overhaul, that is focused on bringing some modern Action-RPG combat concepts to Skyrim. We are utilizing the Timed Blocking and Stamina modifications from this mod instead of Wildcat. You will completely change the way you manage your stamina with this mod. If you run out of stamina, you will enter an exhausted state, where you deal half as much damage. This state will end once you have fully regenerated your stamina.
Blocking has also been overhauled, using similar mechanics from the mod author’s original blocking mod, Shield of Stamina. Performing a Timed Block will now deal you no damage, as long as you have enough stamina to tank all the damage. This incentivizes you to use a shield much more than vanilla, where you cannot block all damage even at 100 block will all perks.
Successful light attacks that hit an enemy no longer deplete your stamina, they regenerate it, incentivizing you to perform long combo chains using our new combat framework, MCO. Power attacks will still deplete your stamina, and missed light attacks will also do so. Your stamina will regenerate 5x faster by default, helping you maintain a healthy combat state.
Elden Counter
“Elden Ring has a lovely guard counter system. Pressing power attack key shortly after blocking an attack, you do a “guard counter” that deals additional damage. This mod brings its mechanic to Skyrim.”
As it was very simply put in the original description, this mod adds Elden Ring’s guard counter mechanic to the game. You can perform this action by power attacking immediately after a successful block. This adds another layer of complexity to combat. increasing the options you have when dealing with enemies.
Simple Weapon Swing Parry
“Between a weapon swing’s animation and hit frame, an attacker enters a blocking state, parrying any attacks against them.”
This simple mod allows you to “parry” attacks, by attacking into an attack. Basically, you and your enemies weapons will collide if you attack at the same time. This can serve to break up combat in tight situations, and can certainly be used offensively with a faster weapon.
Dual Wield Parrying SKSE
“Lets the player parry/block with a new key, even if they’re holding a second weapon (or a spell or a staff) in their left hand.”
Because of the combat setup we are using, we need a way to block without our right-mouse click. This mod allows you to block with any arbitrary keybind, even in times when you could not in vanilla.
Cancel Attack
This very simple mod allows us to cancel an attack by pressing the R key mid-swing. This can allow us to quickly block an attack if you timed your swing wrong, as well as quickly recover from previous attacks to continue attacking. This is a very powerful mechanic, but it requires quick thinking and reflexes to make use of this feature for good results, especially in the presence of a lot of enemies.
Spellsiphon
“Experience gameplay focused on combos and synergy. Lessen the need for menus or hotkeys through a system where swapping spells and weapons is streamlined and rewarding. Continue the fight at 0 magicka by using new spell types. Enjoy a plethora of new sounds and visual effects. Grow in power by playing skillfully, not just from levels and gear.”
Spellsiphon is, at it’s core, a Spell mod. The spells it adds, however, act under an entirely different set of rules than other spells. You are able to cast these spells with no Magicka, instead taking “essence” from the Land, Dead, or Living to choose your element and further cast your spells. The mod also comes with a load of extra mechanics that complement this basic “Draw” and cast from elements. This mod contains far too much content to cover in a description. As such, the mod includes a rather in depth in-game tutorial that you can initiate at any time by reading the “Spellsiphon” book added to your inventory on a new game.
Ghost Mechanics and Shaders Restored
“Ghosts just became your worst nightmare…I restored a cut mechanic to all ghosts and familiars which makes all normal weaponry and spells ineffective against them: When you hit a ghost with an unsuitable spell or weapon the ghost will fade out and turn invincible for 3 seconds. You can still damage them with normal spells and weaponry but only every 3 seconds.”
This mod adds some spice to combat against any type of ghost enemies. Unless you strike them with a weapon or spell that is suitable for fighting undead, you will only be able to hit them every 3 seconds. This mechanic forces you to be prepared for this type of enemy, or suffer from a rather large handicap. On top of this, the mod enhances the ghost shaders quite a bit.
Better Power Attack Direction Control
“In vanilla Skyrim, the direction that player character would pick when doing power attack is not decided by the real input of your device (gamepad or keyboard). Instead, it decided by the movement direction and movement speed of the player character at the moment the power attack action start…with this mod the power attack direction will decided by the real input of your gamepad or keyboard”
Simply put, this mod makes power attacks respect the input you are giving with your keyboard. Without this mod, all sorts of wonky things can occur during combat if you attempt to power attack right after a dodge or sprint, potentially throwing off the combat experience quite a bit. This mod remedies that problem.
It should be noted that directional power attacks do not exist with all weapon types, but this mod still prevents the issues described above from occurring.
Precision
“Physically accurate, true Havok collisions for melee. Procedural, physics-based hit reactions. Weapon trails. Hitstop and camera shake. Recoils when hitting certain materials. Supports both first person and third person, as well as other NPCs and creatures.”
This mod does away with the cone-style hit-box that comes with vanilla Skyrim. Instead of simply hitting all enemies in a cone in front of you when you swing a weapon, this mod adds real hit-boxes to weapons, that actually encompass the size of the weapon. This means that weapons will only hit things that they are physically touching in the world! This enables you to perform a wide variety of new maneuvers in combat, including jumping over or ducking under a swing! Beyond that, it increases immersion immensely to have weapons with true hit-boxes, like a modern game.
The mod also includes a few other features that enhances the reactivity of the character when hitting things with their weapon and being hit by weapons.
Precision Creatures
This addon to Precision adds true hit-boxes to the attacks of Werewolves, Vampire Lords, and Draugr. This makes fighting these enemies (especially Werewolves…) much more realistic, and inline with humanoid NPCs.
For Honor Power Attack
This very simple mod changes the Power Attack functionality to be used with your Right Mouse-Click, instead of holding your Left Mouse-Click. This makes it much more smooth to combo from light attacks to power attacks.
When you have a spell equipped in your non-weapon hand, you will still power attack by holding Left Mouse-Click, to allow you to still use both hands.
Vanguard - Bash Behaviors Overhaul
“Changes how most of the Bashing work, NPC bashing have been completely overhauled to be more telegraphed instead of being too fast to give room to dodge or parry without the use of scripts…Players also get different types of bashing depending on equipped item, not just a visual change but the movement and the speed of the bash now varies to give variety on the approach of certain weapons”
Completely overhauling the power bash, this mod introduces a set of unique behavioral animations that will replace the power bashing animations for all weapons and shields. These animations will have movement data, and behave much like a typical weapon attack. This not only increases variety in your own combat routine, it allows you to more easily avoid enemy bash attacks. In vanilla, these attacks are almost instant, and enemies do them all the time. Each bash animation is unique, with only a select few weapons sharing the same animation.
POISE - Stagger Overhaul
“A near complete gutting of the vanilla stagger system for something more inspired by traditional fighting games…Vanilla stagger mechanics are quite literally RNG based. Which makes sense when you consider that Bethesda’s original idea for combat was a very fast paced, free-flowing, strafe based hack and slash. However, in 2022, everyone seems to have adopted more modern mechanics in the modding community, and fighting games like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and even those terrible fucking Souls titles, have always meant alot to me.”
As Loki eloquently put it, Skyrim’s stagger mechanics sort of made sense for it’s original combat, but that is not what we have anymore with this list. POISE overhauls the staggering system in the game completely, adding four tiers of “stagger” that you will reach progressively as you get hit, losing your poise.
Your and your enemies current poise is determined by a number of features including your equipped weight, and your weapon. With higher poise, you will be able to endure more hits before you are staggered.
Poisebreaker - Addon for POISE
“Poisebreaker is a rebalance and partial rework of Loki’s Poise mod to better integrate into the rest of Skyrim. This mod is intended for players using modern ARPG combat frameworks such as MCO: in conjunction with such mods, the Poise system serves as a punishment for missing attacks.”
This mod makes quite a bit of tweaks to the POISE mod’s settings and the way it works in general, to make it work a bit better with some of the other combat mods we are using.
Stagger Direction Fix
“A skse plugin that fix the character’s wrong stagger direction bug when the stagger triggered by spell, shout and range weapon…In the vanilla game, When a character trigger a stagger that caused through a ranged attack, including spell, shout, range weapon and less power. The playing stagger animation direction won’t be correct when the attack is come from the target’s backward…Character’s body will fall backward still instead of fall forward, which is obviously against the normal physical principle…This mod is aimed to fix this issue, now after installed this mod the character will stagger forwardly when it received stagger-causing attack come from its backward.”
Due to the way MCO and our other combat mods work, this vanilla issue is exacerbated quite a bit. Now, enemies and the player will *always stagger in the correct direction.
*POISE’s Tier-4 stagger animation moves you quite a bit, and this can potentially be sent in the wrong direction if it is triggered by a Wildcat injury.
zxlice’s Ultimate Potion Animation
This mod adds an animation that plays whenever you drink a potion, very simply. This animation allows you to continue walking while you are drinking the potion, but you cannot run. This forces you to think about when you will drink potions in combat, as it will leave you vulnerable or a short time, without completely locking you in place.
Enemy Magelock - NPC Magic Casting Commitment
“A really simple mod to switch up combat rhythm especially for those who love enemy spawn mods and spell distributor mods, Enemy Magelock, Commits the NPC in place when they cast magic animations to avoid them cheesing at you by closing you down or running away when Casting, they are now fully committed to there cast to encourage skill based gameplay.”
This (potentially controversial) mod prevents NPCs from moving while they are charging up a spell. NPCs have a habit of charging into your face casting a concentration spell, which can end up being just plain annoying. You may find that enemy mages can stand still out of your sight, never letting loose their spell so they can search for you. If you find that this mod is not for you, it is possible to remove it by disabling the mod, running nemesis, and updating the Nemesis Engine/generating new animations. In the future, a more succinct guide will be provided to remove potentially unwanted mods such as this one.
New Creature Animations
New Creature Animation Mods from stuxjr
This collection of Creature Animation mods adds a variety of new behavioral attacks to a variety of creatures. These animations truly do spice up combat with these creatures, similarly to MCO Creatures. This set of mods covers Frost Atronachs, Trolls, Werewolves, Falmer, Giants, Lurkers, and Rieklings/Goblins.
Comprehensive First Person Animation Overhaul
“Adds thousands (yes, I checked and it is actually in the thousands) of first person animations that overwrite the janky and outdated vanilla ones. Includes unique animations depending on weapon type (so axes, maces, and daggers are no longer used like swords)”
This modlist is geared around 3rd person gameplay, but I’ve included this mod to help make the 1st person experience a bit better. This mod completely overhauls every single 1st person animation in the game, bringing them more inline with a modern 1st person combat game. These animations are the best that exist for 1st person.
3 - Gameplay Overhaul / New Mechanics
Outlining thoughts for later. Each mod will be expanded upon greatly. Currently, the mods here are not in order of importance. They will be re-organized. This section will contain a lot of mods at first, and I will slowly separate them into more distinct sections that make sense.
Adjustable Attribute Consumption
This mod is used to prevent us from consuming Stamina while outside of combat! This allows you to sprint as long as you would like, until you enter a combat state. Horses will still consume stamina always!
Lawless - A Bandit Overhaul
“Lawless is intended to be a complete overhaul of bandit enemies in Skyrim and Solstheim. This mod introduces 13 new bandit archetypes inspired by previous TES titles, all with unique strengths and weaknesses, as well as additional tiers for bandit spawns, leading to more diverse and powerful enemies throughout the game. All bandits have received stat and perk adjustments that fit their respective roles as enemies.”
Succinctly put above, you will find a large variety in Bandit attack styles, spells, and more. They will also level with you to a larger degree than vanilla bandits.
Loki’s Wade in Water
This mod causes you to walk slower and slower, the deeper you get into water before swimming. This is a fantastic addition in my opinion, making you consider whether it’s a good idea to step into water during combat, as well as providing an immersion boost when simply exploring.
SimonMagus overhauls
Adamant
- Hand to Hand
Mysticism
Stormcrown
Apothecary
Thaumaturgy
Aetherius
Mundus
Scion
Manbeast
Open World Loot
“The goal of OWL is to provide an OPEN WORLD and immersive experience, let the player have a sense of progression as well as obtaining believable and balanced loots throughout your adventure and exploration.”
To put it simply, OWL will stop Skyrim from distributing very high-level loot to most enemies, even if you are a very high level yourself. This creates a much more believable world, where you will only rarely find very high value weapons. As part of the tweaks this mod list contains, we have added an IMMENSE amount of new weapons and armor to all the leveled lists in the game, so the “weaker” equipment you will find on most enemies will be of a very large variety!
Take a Peek - New Stealth Mechanic
Custom Skills - VIGILANT (Put in new content w/ VIGILANT)
Different Casting Time (maybe belongs in combat)
Molag’s Will - Vampire Overhaul
Dragon War
Dealing with Backstories
Set of Skills - A Skyrim Class Mod
Realistic AI Detection
Book of Shadows
Sneak Behavior Extensions - True Prone system
Dynamic Collision Adjustment
Dynamic Weather and time Based Detection
Dog Commands
Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul
Dynamic Things Alternative
Immersive Display Overhaul
Security Overhaul
Oblivionesque Locks
Lockpicking for Barbarians
Locked Chests have Keys
Common Clothes and Armors / Armor Variants Expansion / Cloaks of Skyrim(artesian)
- (belongs in equipment once that section is written up more likely)
Trade and Barter
Hearthfire Extended
Your Market Stall
Linked Crafting Storage
Honed Metal
Potion Combination and Separation
Cast Spells as Lesser Powers (maybe belongs in combat)
…
4 - New Quests and Content
Outlining thoughts for later. Each mod will be expanded upon greatly.
Alternate Perspective
Alternate Perspective is a new take on an Alternate Start in Skyrim. Instead of beginning the game on the carriage to execution every time, you will instead spawn inside the Helgen Inn, within a room that you’ve “rented”. Within here, you are able to select a number of different starting locations and scenarios by speaking to “The Messenger”. Many of these scenarios are packed with the mod by default, but we are using a number of addons to the mod that create additional scenarios for you to begin the game with. The room also contains a variety of basic starting equipment for you to choose from, or you can kit your character out with any items you wish using the AddItemMenu item in your inventory (sometimes, different scenarios will also grant you additional equipment).
Despite all this choice, you also have the option to simply walk out of the room without speaking to the “The Messenger”, to enter the Helgen Inn proper. The room behind you will no longer be the same, and you can continue your journey from there. Speak to the Innkeeper and request a long stay, if you want to experience the true masterpiece of this mod.
Interesting NPCs
One of my favorite content mods of all time, Interesting NPCs adds “Over 250+ fully voiced NPCs, 25+ followers, 15+ marriage NPCs, and 50+ quests” to the game. All of these NPCs are placed in the world in the most natural of ways, usually placed within existing locations as if they were always there. All of these NPCs will offer you an extensive dialogue tree, filled with emotion and great writing/voice acting. A great number of these NPCs will offer you quests, many of which branch into large quest lines, or enable you to begin other quests in the mod.
We are also using a number of mods to increase the efficiency of the mod, make some of the quests easier to begin, and bring the NPCs to the same visual level as the rest of Skyrim. These include Interesting Follower Requirements for Interesting NPCs, Interesting NPCs Visual Overhaul and Interesting NPCs - Quest Requirement Tweaks. Overall, this is an absolute staple in any load order I make, and I can tell you that there are a number of quests from this mod I have yet to touch. One of the greatest mods of all time.
Beyond Reach
Beyond Reach adds a new, expansive region to the game world for players to explore. The mod takes place in the realm of High Rock, a rugged and dangerous land of treacherous mountains, ancient ruins, and hidden dangers. You can expect a wide range of new quests, characters, and factions to encounter as they journey through this new land.
In addition to the new content, Beyond Reach features unique gameplay mechanics that add to the immersion and challenge of exploring this untamed wilderness. Players will need to be prepared to face new enemies and navigate treacherous terrain as they navigate the perilous landscape of High Rock.
Overall, Beyond Reach is a highly ambitious and impressive mod that expands the scope of Skyrim and offers players an entirely new world to explore. With its rich lore, unique gameplay mechanics, and challenging new content, it’s a must-play for any Skyrim fan looking for a fresh and exciting experience.
Beyond Skyrim - Bruma
Beyond Skyrim - Bruma is just one part of a huge Tamriel re-creation mod, that was released early. This mod allows us to visit the northernmost province of Cyrodill, Bruma. You can reach the area through the Pale Pass, south of Helgen.
This mod introduces a large new worldspace with numerous new quests, NPCS, and locations to visit. Despite this mod not being the entirety of Beyond Skyrim’s vision, it offers us an amazing piece of content to experience nonetheless.
VIGILANT + fixes
GLENMORIL + fixes
UNSLAAD + fixes
Darkend
“Travel to the new island of Pharos, explore detailed environments, fight new enemies and discover an Ancient set of weapons of incredible power. No quest, no holding hand, heavily inspired by The Demon’s/Dark Souls games.”
Darkend provides an entirely new land to explore, filled with mystery and plenty of spookiness! As detailed above, this mod’s design is detailed after Souls games in terms of the “quests”, areas, enemies/bosses, and loot.
The mod features a rich backstory that is revealed through gameplay, giving players a sense of purpose as they uncover the island’s dark past. The island itself is beautifully crafted, with stunning visuals and attention to detail that immerses players in the eerie world.
The Wheels of Lull
“Return to Sotha Sil and enter the stranger side of TES lore, as you join the ranks of the mysterious Chronographers in this fully voiced DLC-sized mod that adds over a dozen new quests, multiple new armors and weapons, sprawling dungeons, unique boss fights, and much much more!”
The Wheels of Lull offers a new quest that begins automatically, where you will be tasked with delving deep into the earth to help…someone. You will find yourself in the Clockwork City, a mechanical marvel hidden beneath the surface of Skyrim. The city is a labyrinthine network of gears, cogs, and intricate machinery, populated by some interesting beings!
As players progress, they will uncover a deep and intricate storyline, delving into the secrets of the Clockwork City and its enigmatic creator. The mod features unique quests, memorable characters, and thought-provoking dialogues, offering a captivating narrative experience that expands upon the more “funky” aspects of Tamriel lore.
Wyrmstooth
Khajiit Will Follow
Molag Bal’s Inferno
Depths of the Reach
G.R.I.M
Konahrik’s Accoutrements
Artifacts - Tournament of the Ten Bloods
The Tale of Tsatampra Xiros
Frozen in Time
Baba Yaga and the Labyrinth
Identity Crisis
Save the Dark Brotherhood
Your Choices Matter - A Dark Brotherhood Expansion
Penitus Oculatus
Following Mercer
The Grand Paladin
Fortune’s Tradehouse
Skybound Underhang Camp (will be listed here or in other section)
Beyond Skyrim - Wares of Tamriel + wyrmstooth addon
Immersive World Encounters
Missives
5 - New Creatures
Outlining thoughts for later. Each mod will be expanded upon greatly.
Mihail Monsters and Animals
Mihail has created the most creature mod for Skyrim. We are not using all of his creatures, but a select “few” that I believe are of the highest quality and fit into the world (a bit of stretch with some) as well as possible.
Mihail also hides lots of his mods frequently, for one reason or another. We are using a few of these mods in our list. Due to Nexus’ mod archive policies, we will have no problem using these mods anyways.
Dwarven Automatons
Mihail has created a number of different new Dwarven Automatons, and we are using six of them;
- Colossus
- Magetta
- Driller
- Power Suits
- Threshers
- Defenders
Crows
This mod adds Crows the game, which are hand placed in locations that would benefit from a bit of crow-iness. These crows will make their well know cawing sound, and add to the atmosphere of any location they are placed.
Bone Hawk
With this mod, Mihail overhauls the Bone Hawk that flies around Castle Volkihar (you very well may have never seen this).
Dugongs and Manatees (Hidden)
This simple mod adds two new sea creatures to Skyrim’s waters. These are placed (for the most part) only along the northern coast. A bit of extra life to Skyrim!
Soul Trees (Hidden)
This mod adds static “Soul Trees” to the Soul Cairn worldspace. These eldritch beings fit into the landscape quite well, and have some interesting mechanics.
Gargoyles (Hidden)
This overhaul mod brings back a cut type of Gargoyle, and modifies the existing Gargoyles.
Ice Titans
A creature mod from Mihail, this mod adds huge giant-like creatures to some of the cold areas of Skyrim. These beasts are even taller than the Giants of Skyrim, and will force you to change your route if you are not prepared for them.
Iron Golems (Hidden)
This mod adds a few very large Iron Golems to the world. Most of these are placed in deep, forgotten dungeons, but you may find them in the employ of certain factions in Skyrim.
War Revenants (Hidden)
War Revenants adds a new location to the Whiterun tundra, which houses the site of a horrible amalgamation of death from the Civil War. Within, you will find creatures that have been formed from the corpses of the war, and embody the spirit of hate that runs amok. This is an interesting location, filled with some interesting creatures.
Bone Colossus
“Bone Colossi are large undead golems formed from thousands of bones gathered together in a vaguely humanoid form and animated using powerful necromancy. They are conjured from piles of osseous matter by Bonemasters and use small Bonelings as their minions.”
These powerful creatures can only be found deep within dungeons, usually accompanied by a powerful Necromancer (but not always). These beasts of Necromancy are huge, deal powerful blows, and can overrun you with their Boneling minions. When delving into a dungeon, always be on the lookout!
Leshens (Old Gods of the Hunt)
“The Old Gods of the Hunt are powerful and mysterious ancient creatures…Ferocious and stunning, these Wild Hunt beasts are connected to Hircine, and have been worshiped since the beginning by the Reachmen and the Bosmer as one of their Old Gods.”
Inspired by Leshens from The Witcher, these druidic creatures can be found in lost places of nature, and can also rarely found in the company of the Forsworn. They unleash powerful nature magic, and can summon wild animals to assist them. This is not to mention their brute size and strength. The ultimate Spriggan!
Crystal Golems
“Crystal Golems are large masses of faceless and vaguely humanoid crystal, animated by unknown means, that patrol Blackreach.” These large crystalline creatures will charge at any enemies and crush them with their huge arms. They also happen to be composed of an Enchanter’s favorite tool.
Gravelords
“Gravelords are enigmatic entities formed by hundreds of darkened bones covered in a cloak of dense shadows. They’re the spawn of Sithis, the representation of the primordial state of emptiness and the Void. They roam the darkest places of Nirn and Oblivion, surrounded by their dread armies of scary Gravelord Servants.”
Inspired by Nito of Dark Souls, this creature is a powerful necromantic creature. This creature can only be found in deep forgotten dungeons or in the company of powerful necromancers, similar to the Bone Colossus.
Mourning Souls
Ettins
Minotaurs
Water Hags
Harpies
Hungers
Foglings
Grey Children
Flesh Atronachs
Shambles
Undead Snow Elves
Cannibal Draugr on Solstheim
Forsworn Gravesingers / Skinchangers
GRAHL - The Ice Troll
The Blood Horker
Bogmort - Mud Monsters of Morthal Swamp
Daedric Beasts - Wendigos and Howlers
Morrowind Creatures
Flesh Colossus
Wraiths
Scamps
Cernunnos
Ogres
Anglerfish
6 - Weapons and Armor
Outlining thoughts for later. Each mod will be expanded upon.
This mod list adds a very large amount of new equipment to the game, most of which has been added to leveled lists.
Read the full added equipment list here
Artifact Mods
We are using a variety of different artifact mods, all of which have been patched together to ensure that every unique equipment in the game is truly unique.
Zim’s Immersive Artifacts
ArteFakes - Unique Artifacts Replacer
Unique Unique’s Re-Ported
JS Unique Utopia - Daggers
Dawnbreaker Animation
Volendrung Animation
Nightingale Bow Animation
Spellbreaker Remesh
Chillrend Visual Overhaul
Deathbrand Redux
Gauldurbrand
Grimsever - Frigid Fang of the Lioness
Armor of Yngol
Ancient Falmer Armor Replacer
Ahzidal’s Armor Replcer
Forsworn Armor Redux
Mephala’s Prelate - Morag Tong Armor
Modernize - HDT Clothing
Leanwolf’s Better shaped weapons
Sleeved Stormcloaks/Guards
New Legion
Sleek Wolf Armor Replacer
7 - Improved Vanilla Quests
Outlining thoughts for later. Each mod will be expanded upon greatly.
Timing is Everything
The Choice is Yours
Radiant Requirements
At Your Own Pace modules
College of Winterhold - Quest Expansion
Skyrim Extended Cut - Saints and Seducers
A Lovely Letter - Alternate Routes
Save the Icerunner - Lights Out Alternate Routes
Finding Deerkethus
Finding Helgi and Laelette
Finding Susanna Alive
Innocence Lost - Quest Expansion
Caught Red Handed - Quest Expansion
Nilheim - Misc Quest Expansion
Somebody Else’s Problem - Ignore the Forsworn Conspiracy
House of Horrors - Quest Expansion
Boethiah for Good Guys
The Only Cure - Quest Expansion
The Whispering Door - Quest Expansion
The Heart of Dibella - Quest Expansion
Search and Seizure - Quest Expansion
Mistwatch Ending - More Options
Harvest Your Blood for Septimus
Improved College Entry - Questline Tweaks
Misc College of Winterhold Tweaks
Choose your own Arch-Mage
Finding Velehk Sain
Thieves Guild Requirements
Parthurnaax - Quest Expansion
Serana Relationship Revamped
Headhunter - Bounties Redone
Buyable Golden Claw / Silence is Golden
More Thalmor Dossiers
Destination Weddings / Better Weddings Guests
Reasonable Quest Rewards
8 - Complete Settlement Overhaul
Outlining thoughts for later. Each mod will be expanded upon greatly.
Capital Whiterun Expansion
Capital Windhelm Expansion
JK’s Skyrim
Only used for Riften, Markarth, Solitude, and Riverwood
Solitude Skyway
Riften Docks Overhaul
Markarth Outskirts
Cities of the North - Falkreath
Cities of the North - Winterhold
The Great Cities - Minor Cities and Towns
The Great Town of Ivarstead
The Great Town of Shor’s Stone
The Great Town of Karthwasten
The Great Village of Kynesgrove
The Great Village of Old Hroldan
The Great Village of Mixwater Mill
Settlements Expanded
Thanedom of Darkwater Crossing
Thanedom of Nightgate
Thanedom of Dunpar
Thanedom of Torvfjord
Thanedom of Harold Hold
Oakwood
Stonehills Reborn
Anga’s Mill Reborn
Raven Rock Reborn
Better Tel Mithryn
Skaal Village Overhaul
ClefJ’s Half-Moon Mill
9 - Improved Non-Settlement Locations
Outlining thoughts for later. Each mod will be expanded upon greatly.
Obscure’s College of Winterhold / Bibliophile’s Arcaneum
Opulent Thieves Guild
ClefJ’s Fort Dawnguard
JK’s Overhauls
Ryn’s Overhauls
Lawbringer
Halted Stream Mine addon
Tactical Valtheim Addon
Serenity - Silent Moons Camp Addon
Robber’s Gorge Addon
Skybound Underhang camp
Wyrmstooth Addon
Stendarr Rising - Hall of the Vigilant Rebuild
Whiterun Watchtower Doesn’t Start Broken
Simple Player Home Improvements
Store Entrance Doorbells
Environs - The Greenwood Shack
Environs - Riften Warehouse
Environs - Abandonded Abodes
Dungeons - Revisited
Dark Anchors ruins and Dolmens
Oblivion Gates
Northern Marsh Bridges
Man those Borders Reborn
10 - NPC Improvements
Outlining thoughts for later. Each mod will be expanded upon greatly.
Nether’s Follower Framework
Follower Commentary Overhaul
Run for Your Lives
AI Overhaul
NPCs Wear Amulets of Mara / Immersive Rejections
Simple Offence Suppression +addons
Simply Knock
Tavern AI Fix
More to Say
Guard Dialogue Overhaul
Suspicious City Guards
Jayserpa Dialogue Overhauls
Misc Dialogue Edits
Misc Dialogue Options
Hunters Dialogue Edit / Hunters not Bandits / Thugs not Assassins
NPCs React to Necromancy, Invisibility, and Frenzy
Immersive Khajiit Caravan Mules
M’aiq The Liar Modders Edition
Inconsequential NPCs (maybe belongs in new content?)
Immersive College NPCs
Appropriately Attired Housecarls (shameless plug)
Immersive Patrols Lite / Simplified
11 - NPC Appearance Overhauls
being written
This is an extremely subjective set of mods. Everyone has very different opinions on which of these mods are the best, and this mod list contains what I believe to the best of them.
Modifying the NPC Overhauls in this mod list IS possible, but requires an extensive knowledge of xEdit to undo the patchwork that has been done for this mod list. Therefore, I do NOT recommend you do so.