Skyrim player creates self-imposed hardcore permadeath ruleset for the RPG's Legendary difficulty, then spends 150 hours trying to beat it

Reddit user and dedicated Skyrim fan Inward_Perfection had a rare opportunity. They were going to have some extended downtime during a job transition, and decided to fill it with a truly legendary run of Skyrim's Legendary difficulty setting. With self-imposed permadeath and a slew of other restrictions, they spent 140 to 150 hours over roughly two months trying to beat this Kaizo rule set without dying a single time, and just days ago, they finally did it.

Inward-Perfection outlined their quest in a recent Reddit post, and I also reached out to talk through some of the specifics of their grind. In total, it took them five characters to beat this Skyrim challenge, with the successful character, a warrior specced into heavy armor and block, representing the majority of the play time at 120 hours. 

"I died pretty early the first four times," they told me in an interview. "With Illusion mage, I spammed Muffle to level Illusion and the challenger (a guy who might spawn when you have high level in one of the magic skills) came to duel me in Whiterun and killed me with ice spikes. 2H Orc died when I tried to lead the Draugr through the swinging axes trap. 2H bandit killcam and falling down in Nchuand Zel are self-explanatory." 

It took 5 attempts, but I survived Legendary difficulty with one life/without crafting loops. A few thoughts on experience from r/skyrim

Playing Skyrim on Legendary difficulty is hard enough; you take three times the normal damage and enemies are four times tankier. Doing it without dying is even more challenging. And then you look at the 10 rules Inward_Perfection added into the mix and you start to see why this took about two months. Here's the shortlist, straight from their Reddit post:

1. No fast travel (horse is OK)
2. No permanent followers. If a game forces you to take a follower like Serana or Companions, get rid of them ASAP. One-off quest followers like Golldir are acceptable for a dungeon.
3. No excessive crafting/skill grinding, the game must be played somewhat naturally
4. On warriors, I also rejected sneaking
5. Absorb health/absorb stamina enchantments are banned
6. Quick Reflexes/Disarming shield bash perks are banned
7. Infinite stamina soups are banned on warriors
8. Unofficial Patch to fix Necromage Vampire/Resto Loop/free skill training
9. Warriors can’t use conjuration minions, Rose of Sanguine is a hard no-no
10. Most important: enemy killcams are on 

Most of these rules are about outlawing famously overpowered abilities and strategies, while others ramp up the challenge in more natural ways by forcing Inward_Perfection to be exposed to more danger. I asked how these rules came about, especially rules three, five, six, and nine. 

"I just wanted to add some extra challenge, that was the reason," they explain. "I also like a sense of progression in RPGs, when you start weak, but eventually become strong, but not game-breakingly - tough enemies must still remain a challenge, I think."

By limiting crafting but not outright forbidding it, the "super OP" weapons and armor get cut out, but their warrior character could still use the essentials of blacksmithing. Ruling out health and stamina siphons likewise made things much harder for warrior classes, and on top of that, Inward_Perfection says, "I also didn't use weapons with paralysis effects. And didn't use 'Ultimate' potions that restore full stat bar when used." 

The rule against Quick Reflexes and Disarming Shield Bash perks is curiously targeted. "These perks make life a bit too easy for my liking," Inward_Perfection simply says. "Quick Reflexes slows time when enemies go for a power attack, giving you a huge window to move out of the way. For the same reason, I also didn't use Slow Time shout, except for fighting Karstaag. Disarming Bash, well, disarms enemies reliably, unlike Disarm shout that doesn't work on high level Draugr, Falmer, and Forsworn IIRC." 

Finally, in another anti-warrior ruling, rule nine's minions were banned because "summons draw aggro well and deal 100% damage, while also taking 100% damage instead of 300% like you do. Sanguine Rose gives you a leveled Dremora; you don't even need magicka to summon him." 

The really hard part

With all these rules bearing down on them, it's no wonder Inward_Perfection lost several characters before finally making it to the end. I asked about the closest they came to death on their triumphant warrior. In true Skyrim fashion, it came down to a dragon. 

"A revered dragon (level 62 IIRC) spawned near Dead Men's Respite when I was on level 39. I barely survived it after drinking nearly all health/magicka/fortify potions. Would've died if not for some natural cover near the entrance. That was definitely the closest. Plenty of times I ended fights with 20-30% health left, especially early on." 

The Ebony Warrior, a "really bad fight for warriors," was also a problem. "I had beaten him on Master first try before without sneak, just 1v1. But he hits really hard on Legendary and takes much longer to kill. Especially with self-imposed restrictions. Me having over 1,000 health (with potions) wasn't helping much," Inward_Perfection adds. "In the end, I beat him by kiting, dodging while Unrelenting Force recharges, throwing him down the cliff, and beating him with a mace when he's down. With normal attacks, because an unlucky power attack could instakill me." 

There's another good anecdote in one of their Reddit replies: "In the end, I kinda had to break Rule 2. I couldn’t solo Karstaag, he was owning me through 100% frost resistance, armor cap, and 80% spell absorption. My 250 displayed damage on Dawnbreaker (I drank a potion) couldn’t bring him down fast enough. One swing of his club was dealing like 250 damage through my maxed armor. While I was running away to heal, Karstaag would regen all the damage I’ve done to him.

"I ran away after exhausting almost all my potions and came back with Teldryn. Together, we beat the motherfucker after 10 minutes of super heavy fighting. I even let Teldryn have the Deathbrand armor and Daedric sword once I dismissed him. In the end, I can’t even see Skyrim anymore." 

What advice do they have for other Skyrim fans looking to run their own hardcore challenges? Stop me if you've heard this before: be a stealth archer. 

No, really. "Be a stealth archer! Never fails, I just don't like stealth in games in general," Inward_Perfection tells me, sharing more tips on outsmarting the RPG. On Reddit, they also encourage elemental resistances and capping your armor rating. "Illusion spells like Calm/Pacify are also good, they work regardless of the difficulty setting. Lord/Atronach Stones are the best on Legendary. Without magic and elemental resistances, dragons and mages will be frustrating.

"For PC players, I'd suggest disabling killcams against the player with a mod. Violens has that feature, I just didn't activate it for the 'pure' experience. Don't know if it works on consoles. If you want to play with enemy killcams on, or you can't install a mod, invest a lot of levels in Health and compensate for low Magicka/Stamina with enchantments. Rely on followers or summons to do the fighting early on, they're not affected by difficulty.

"I really think that Bethesda added Legendary to switch to when Master becomes too easy. So, if you want fun and don't want to min-max or stress out too much, I'd suggest playing on Expert/Master, then switching to Legendary when the game starts feeling too easy." 

What's next for Inward_Perfection? A new job, for starters. And probably a new game, too. Quite understandably, they say they've "had enough Skyrim for a long time." 

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