High Level Enemies
Adds 874 new enemies with optional level scaling to Skyrim. Includes Bandits, Forsworn, Draugr, Falmer, Vampires, Warlocks, Cultists, Rieklings, Dragon Priests, Gargoyles, Animals and more! The new enemies start appearing at level 10. Also includes optional Hardcore and Spell Scaling modules. Dragonborn, Dawnguard and Falskaar versions incl
*** Falskaar Support Added ***
*** Optional Full Level Scaling Version Added ***
*** Added an Optional File to Scale Ilusion, Raise Dead, Summon and Other Spells so They Don’t Lose Effectiveness in High-Level Play. ***
Main Files
Adds 874 new enemies starting at level 10 to Skyrim, Dawnguard, Dragonborn and Falskaar!
Now includes an optional version with full level scaling so all enemies (even Vanilla enemies) will scale to your level!
Each of Skyrim’s main enemy types are covered including Bandits, Draugr, Dragon Priests, Falmer, Forsworn, Thalmor, Dwarven Constructs, Vampires, Warlocks, Trolls, Chaurus, Spriggans, Hagravens, Spiders, Skeletons, Witches, Ice Wraiths, Mammoths, Dremora and Wild Animals!
Each of Dawnguard’s main enemy types are covered including Vampires, Vampire Hunters, Falmer, Gargoyles, Armored Trolls, Death Hounds and Chaurus Hunters!
Dragonborn Cultists, Rieklings, Ash Spawn, and Dragonborn Bandits Included!
For each enemy type the highest level variant scales with player level so the game doesn’t get too easy!
Countless hours were spent customizing the Stats, Skills, Perks, Spells, Damage Done and Armor Rating of each added creature to ensure that the difficulty stays consistent as the player levels!
The scaling is non-linear and takes into account that high level players invest in at least 1 crafting skill (Smithing, Enchanting or Alchemy).
Optional Files
Includes an optional file that increases difficulty at all levels.
Includes an optional file that increases armor cap to 90% and max magic resist to 90% encouraging high-level play.
Includes an optional file that scales Illusion, Raise Dead, Summons, Turn Undead Spells and Werewolf Howl so they are still viable in high-level play.
Translated Versions
High Level Enemies French by Mcguffin
High Level Enemies Spanish by Jalmpitt
High Level Enemies Russian (Warning: Link Leads Away from Skyrim Nexus)
High Level Enemies German by ww13
High Level Enemies Spanish alternate by Grull
There are a number of great mods available that effect creature level and scaling. Some make the game harder at low levels and some harder at high levels but in each case there are difficulty spikes. Mods that delevel creatures usually render the game very difficult at low levels but easy at high levels. Mods that introduce level scaling don’t properly account for the fact that the player’s growth is non-linear so the game gets easy at high levels. Finally, mods that add high level creatures do a good job keeping the difficulty up at higher levels but still get easy when the player outlevels the added creatures.
High Level Enemies is designed to bring the best features of these different leveling systems together. It adds high level enemies as well as level scaling and at each step the enemy stats, perks, spells, damage done and armor rating were tweaked through rigorous testing to make sure the difficulty remains steady at high levels.
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Main Files
High Level Enemies
This mod adds new enemies starting at level 10 for almost all of Skyrim’s enemy types. New variants are added for Bandits, Forsworn, Draugr, Falmer, Warlocks, Dragon Priests and more (see the details section for a full list). The stats, skills, perks, spells, damage dealt and damage mitigated of each variant were adjusted to keep enemies in line with the player’s natural progression so that the game continues to provide a challenge at higher levels.
To give an example of what’s been added, in Vanilla the highest level bandit was level 25 (28 for a boss). This mod adds bandits at levels 30, 40, 50 and 60 (66 for a boss). However, once you pass lvl 60 the game won’t suddenly get easy. The top level enemies of each type will scale with your level. This means you’ll still get the same variety of enemies you expect from Skyrim but you’ll never outlevel everything ensuring the game remains challenging.
So for example at level 70 you’ll encounter the usual bandits from Skyrim as well as the added level 30, 40 and 50 bandits, but the highest level bandit (originally level 60) will scale to match you at level 70.
Scaled Version
Includes all the enemies added in High Level Enemies – Main and scales every enemy to your level. This includes the original Skyrim enemies as well as the ones added by High Level Enemies!
*** Install High Level Enemies – Main OR High Level Enemies – Main Scaled ***
Dawnguard Files
High Level Enemies – Dawnguard
Adds new enemies starting at level 10 for almost all of Dawnguard’s enemy types including Vampires, Vampire Hunters, Falmer, Gargoyles, Armored Trolls and Chaurus Hunters (see the details section for a full list). The stats, skills, perks, spells, damage dealt and damage mitigated of each variant were adjusted to keep enemies in line with the player’s natural progression so that the game continues to provide a challenge at higher levels. The top level enemies of each type will scale with your level.
Scaled Version
Includes all the enemies added in High Level Enemies – Dawnguard and scales every Dawnguard enemy to your level. This includes the original Dawnguard enemies as well the ones added by High Level Enemies!
*** Install High Level Enemies – Dawnguard OR High Level Enemies – Dawnguard Scaled ***
Dragonborn Files
High Level Enemies – Dragonborn
Adds new enemies starting at level 10 for Cultists, Rieklings, Ash Spawn and Dragonborn Bandits. The stats, skills, perks, spells, damage dealt and damage mitigated of each variant were adjusted to keep enemies in line with the player’s natural progression so that the game continues to provide a challenge at higher levels. The top level enemies of each type will scale with your level.
Scaled Version
Includes all the enemies added in High Level Enemies – Dragonborn and scales every Dragonborn enemy to your level. This includes the original Dragonborn enemies as well the ones added by High Level Enemies!
Falskaar Files
High Level Enemies – Falskaar
Adds new enemies to Falskaar. Only new Bandits and Necromancers are added since all other enemies from the High Level Enemies Main file are compatible with Falskaar. The stats, skills, perks, spells, damage dealt and damage mitigated of each variant were adjusted to keep enemies in line with the player’s natural progression so that the game continues to provide a challenge at higher levels. The top level enemies of each type will scale with your level.
Scaled Version
Includes all the enemies added in High Level Enemies – Falskaar and scales every Falskaar enemy to your level. This includes the original Falskaar enemies as well the ones added by High Level Enemies!
Optional Files
Increased Max Resists
Most high level players hit the armor and magic resist caps. This removes the incentive to keep leveling since you feel you can’t get any stronger. Since High Level Enemies is for high level play and adds more challenging enemies the player should also have the chance to keep getting stronger. With this in mind this optional file:
Increases the armor cap from 80% to 90% but you have to work for it! Hitting the armor cap now requires an armor rating of 1000. Since Skyrim gives you a hidden 25 armor rating bonus for each equipped piece of armor (helm, chest, gauntlets and greaves) this means you need 900 armor rating when wearing full armor.
Increases the maximum magic resistance from 85% to 90%.
Hardcore
This file increases the challenge at all levels by raising the average level of encountered enemies. This was done since the average enemy in Skyrim is lower level than the player. Difficulty settings have also been rescaled:
Difficulty………………….Novice…Apprentice…Adept……Expert…..Master…Legendary
Player Damage Done………100%………75%………50%………33%………25%………20%
Enemy Damage Done………100%……..150%……..200%…….300%…….400%…….500%
Raised Ability Caps
One of the biggest problems with high-level play is that some spells become unuseable. Illusion spells, raise dead, summons, turn undead and werewolf howl (fear effect) only work on enemies up to a certain level (even with dual casting). This optional mod scales these spells to work on higher level enemies.
The scaling only starts at high levels so this will not effect low-level play at all.
Compatible with all Perk and Spell mods.
Turn Undead spells will start scaling at level 35.
Illusion spells will start scaling at level 40.
Raise Dead and Atronach Thrall spells will start scaling at level 40.
New Dremora Lords will replace the Vanilla Lord at level 56 and 66. The level 66 version scales with player level.
Werewolf Howl starts scaling at level 25.
For the Restoration, Raise Dead and Illusion spells listed the scaling is calculated as (skill level) x 0.2 so with a skill level of 100 your spells will work on creatures 20 levels higher than the default. If you use a mod like Elys Uncapper you can raise the caps even higher. The maximum level of the Werewolf Howl ability scales with player level starting at level 25 (1:1 scaling). This mod doesn’t make any changes to existing perks so it should be compatible with perk and spell overhauls. This scaling only turns on at high levels so this will not affect low-level play at all.
New Enemies Added:
Skyrim
199 Bandits
104 Draugr
60 Witches
24 Forsworn
20 Warlocks (Necromancers, Conjurers, Pyromancers, Cryomancers and Electromancers)
20 Thalmor
18 Skeletons
13 Falmer
10 Dragon priests
10 Vampires
9 Dwarven Constructs
6 Dremora
6 Spiders
6 Mudcrabs
4 Ice Wraiths
4 Hagravens
4 Skeevers
3 Atronachs
3 Giants
3 Mammoths
2 Chaurus
2 Trolls
2 Spriggans
2 Bears
2 Saber Cats
2 Wolves
Dawnguard
28 Vampire Hunters
13 Vampires
12 Death Hounds
6 Falmer
2 Gargoyles
2 Armored Trolls
2 Chaurus Hunters
Dragonborn
88 Dragonborn Bandits
28 Rieklings
21 Draugr Hulks
12 Cultists
6 Ash Spawn
2 Seekers
1 Lurker
Falskaar
136 Falskaar Bandits
6 Necromancers
None of the enemies in Vanilla Skyrim have been changed in the unscaled version! Only new enemies were added. The new enemy names are consistent with the naming convention in Skyrim.Bandits may now carry glass weapons but their armor has not changed.
Compatible with most mods including anything that effects companions, perks, weapons and armor, the UI or the environment.Here is a short list of recommended compatible mods (presented in primary colors!):Ace – Athyra’s Comprehensive Enhancements
A well balanced perk and skill tree overhaul.
Modular so you can pick and choose which modified skill trees to play with.
Lets you edit a lot of game settings from in game menus.
Asis – Automatic Spells, Increased Spawns
Adds perks, spells, potions, improved AI and customizable spawn levels to the game AND to the NPCs added by High Level Enemies.
This mod and High Level Enemies complement each other very well!
Run the Asis patcher after installing High Level Enemies.
CCO – Character Creation Overhaul
Redesigns each race changing starting skills and abilities.
Lets you pick or define your own class and respec any time you want.
Each class has favorite skills that level at a slightly increased rate (similar to the Oblivion leveling system).
Deadly Dragons
Adds a huge variety of new dragons to the game, everything from undead to magma dragons.
New dragons are more challenging and have a vast array of new spells and attacks.
Duel – Combat Realism
Makes combat more challenging and rewarding.
Improves enemy AI and even lets them use team tactics against you.
Revamps stamina usage and stagger chance.
ERSO – Erkeil Real Skyrim Overhaul
Changes just about everything in the game.
Is highly modular so you can pick and choose changes you want to use.
Skyrim Immersive Creatures
Adds dozens of new and original creature types to the game greatly increasing encounter variety.
Versions 5.1 and up are designed to work well with High Level Enemies.
Requires a bashed patch for full compatibility (Relev tag).
SkyRe – Skyrim Redone
Completely redesigns the perk system.
Adds perks with high skill requirements (over 100) encouraging high level play making this ideal for use with High Level Enemies.
Redesigns Races, Standing Stones, Enemy AI and more.
The unscaled version of HLE is compatible with SkyRe Module 6 (enemy scaling module) with a bashed patch (Relev tag).
The scaled version of HLE isn’t compatible with SkyRe Module 6 (they do the same thing so you shouldn’t need HLE and Module 6 anyway).
Skyrim -Community- Uncapper
If any mod encourages high level gameplay it’s Elys’ Uncapper.
Lets you raise maximum skill levels and customize progression rates for each skill separately.
You can also customize the rate at which each skill contributes to your overall level.
Note that although the listed mods are compatible with High Level Enemies they may not all be compatible with each other! Check their respective descriptions when installing.The only mods this will conflict with are mods that change creature levels or scaling (leveled lists). However, these can usually be made compatible with a bashed patch!
Q. Some enemies are frozen or naked and don’t move properly.A. This is a bug that’s been reported in Skyrim since at least patch 1.6 (before HLE came out). It seems to happen when animations aren’t properly loaded when the player enters a cell. In some cases temporarily removing animation mods has fixed the problem. Otherwise reverting to an earlier save can help. At what level will I start seeing the new creatures?A. New enemies will start showing up at level 10. After that more and more will show up as you reach higher levels.Q. What is the highest level enemy added by this mod?
A. The Dawnguard Vampire Boss at lvl 75. However, level scaling was added so that the player can never out level the highest tier enemies. These will have the best perks and spells (just like the player at this point) and will continue to provide a chalenge.
Q. Why add bandits at lvl 30 40, 50, 60 and then autolevel the level 60 bandit instead of simply making 1 bandit and autoleveling it?
A. This allows enemies at each level to be tweaked individually allowing for a more consistent difficulty throughout the game. Also it adds variety to the game. If you only make 1 then all the enemies in the game will have generic names like “Bandit”, “Draugr” and Vampire”. I think it adds to the gameplay experience when you run into a cave and fight a group with a “Bandit Highwayman” “Bandit Plunderer” and “Bandit Conqueror” in it.
Q. How do I use Wrye Bash and what tags do I need to add?
A. Add -Relev tags to “High Level Enemies.esp”, “High Level Enemies – Dawnguard.esp” and “High Level Enemies – Dragonborn.esp”. You shouldn`t need -Delev tags. To use Wrye Bash follow this guide by Demonasius:
Skyrim Bashed Patch Pictorial Guide by Demonasius
Installation
For NMM Versions
1. Download High Level Enemies Installer and follow the instructions.
Manual Installation
Download High Level Enemies Installer.
Unzip and copy the contents of “High Level Enemies Installer\HLE\00 Main” or “High Level Enemies Installer\HLE\00 Main Scaled” to your Skyrim\data folder.
Copy the contents of “High Level Enemies Installer\HLE\00 Bsa” to your Skyrim\data folder.
Skip to step 7 is you don’t have Dawnguard. Copy the contents of “High Level Enemies Installer\HLE\01 Dawnguard” or “High Level Enemies Installer\HLE\01 Dawnguard Scaled” to your Skyrim\data folder.
Copy the contents of “High Level Enemies Installer\HLE\01 Bsa” to your Skyrim\data folder.
Make sure Dawnguard file is loaded after the Main file in load order.
Skip to step 10 if you don’t have Dragonborn. Copy the contents of “High Level Enemies Installer\HLE\02 Dragonborn” or “High Level Enemies Installer\HLE\02 Dragonborn Scaled” to your Skyrim\data folder.
Copy the contents of “High Level Enemies Installer\HLE\02 Bsa” to your Skyrim\data folder.
Check the added files in your Skyrim Launcher.
