NOTICE: These mods for the Legendary Edition of Skyrim are not intended to receive any further updates. Please refer to the SSE version of the mod, if there is one available.






You're out for a nice little hike in the woods. Suddenly, you hear a distant howl. It's a wolf pack... And they have spotted you! Now you have to act quickly if you want to survive!

If you ever encounter a pack of wolves in the woods, your first thought should never be, "Ah, an easy fight and some free furs." A wolf pack should be something that's actually dangerous to encounter. With that being said, having Skywild installed certainly won't make the game unplayable – just more immersive and challenging.





Most wild animals have had their stats buffed to an extent where an encounter would be more or less dangerous for any player, regardless of level. In real life, no matter how skilled of a hunter you are, you wouldn't go hunting bear and elk with a sword or an axe, so it doesn't make any sense that you would in Skyrim either. The wild animals are not any smarter though, and they still lack defence and strategy, so keeping them at bay should not really be hard, as long as you outsmart them rather than mindlessly running up hitting them. In addition to all that, any large animal that realistically would knock down a human, probably will. On the contrary, you will probably not be able to knock down them.

As a rule of thumb, most animals have an amount of health that would be equivalent to their weight in kilograms. You can also count on that carnivores will have less health for more attack damage, and that herbivores will have more health for less attack damage.

Aside from minor tweaks here and there, the animals that have received the most notable changes are:

Wolves

With increased damage and health, wolves have gone from being something you shrug off like mosquitoes in the vanilla game, into an animal you need to beware of if you're walking in the woods. They still have a relatively small health pool compared to some of the other animals though, and an experienced player or hunter should easily be able to defeat them. But again, it will take some effort. If you aren't careful, you might also find yourself knocked to the ground by a leaping member of the pack – and then you are definitely in for some serious trouble. Additionally, dogs will now also come with similar abilities, making them actually useful.


Bears

Bears scale from small to big, and the bigger the species, the more dangerous. Large bears have a massive health pool as well as the ability to knock down their opponents when they raise on their hind legs. A bear is an imposing creature for anyone. A melee confrontation with a bear is dangerous for most people, especially considering how it will keep the victim stuck on the ground while mauling them to death. It is worth to remember though, that bears are quite defensive and won't attack unless someone comes too close after being warned.

Notice: Due to a bug in the vanilla game which was fixed by the Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch, the bear and cave bear species had originally been mixed up. It's advisable to have the patch installed when using Skywild. There wouldn't actually be any technical issues without it, but it could look a little bit odd.


Sabre Cats

A giant feline carnivore and the apex predator of Skyrim's animal kingdom; the sabre cat is not one to be trifled with. As in the vanilla game, they will quietly sneak up on their prey until they charge for the kill. With increased speed, the ability to knock down anyone they leap at, along with massive attack damage, this large predator will be one of the most dangerous creatures to beware of when exploring the wilderness of Skyrim. Hunting them can be a challenging yet exciting experience for any player.


Slaughterfish

With their razor sharp teeth, slaughterfish will do tremendous damage to anyone they encounter in the water. This was added much for the sake of making the waters of Skyrim a bit more dangerous.


Spiders and Chaurus

Users who have installerad Skytoxin, Skywild's sister mod, will notice how these creatures have gone from harmless, big bugs, into some of the most dangerous creatures you can encounter when exploring the depths and marshes of Skyrim.


Elk

With an increased size, new defensive temperament and beefy stats, the elk in Skyrim has gone from a small background creature hunted for fun, into a smaller, weaker alternative to the mammoth. Elk are big and strong animals. Running into and provoking an elk in the woods is actually really dangerous. Adding to the fact that Skyrim's elk is the equivalent of a moose, it makes a lot of sense that this is a creature you should have to be careful with. Unless you keep the elk at bay, you might soon find yourself being trampled to death by its hooves. Hunting elk can be a rewarding business though, considering how valuable their heavy antlers are.


Horkers

With their large bodies and long tusks, horkers have had their size, health and attack damage increased a lot. They are thus not exactly easy to kill if you decide to brawl with them. However, as slow as they remain, they aren't really a threat unless you actually provoke them up close. Or in the water.


Mammoths

The elephants of the tundra, mammoths will always remain calm as long as they aren't provoked. Now they also come with an (even more) massive health pool, massive attack damage, as well as the ability to knock down and trample most things that tries to harm them. In addition to all this, they are also near immune to frost damage. While many other animals, monsters and bosses are faster, more dangerous and much more challenging, the mammoth is the undisputed king of sheer strength. Realistically, no humanoid (such as the player) should ever stand a chance of defeating a mammoth in a melee confrontation, even if they have the most powerful armour and weaponry that's obtainable. Even though it is technically possible to kill them that way, the mammoth's sheer amount of health, attack damage and its trampling ability are simply too overwhelming. You wouldn't be able to overpower an elephant during a brawl in real life, and neither should your Skyrim character be able to.

If you actually want to hunt mammoths though, it is advisable to use a bow along with some poisons. With that being said, mammoths now drop four tusks, which just like real ivory, are highly valuable, but also extremely heavy. Mammoth hunting is thus a very profitable, yet challenging business.





In addition to making animals more dangerous, Skywild also makes some of the monsters and creatures far more imposing than before. Unlike animals however, where you can assume certain things based on size and appearance, monsters and creatures are unnatural and much more unpredictable.

Aside from minor tweaks here and there, the creatures that have received the most notable changes are:

Giants

Just like their mammoth pets, the giants themselves have also received more health and more attack damage, along with the ability to knock down humans and other small creatures who make the reckless decision of coming too close.


Trolls

The wild species of trolls are bigger, tougher and stronger, and will throw around with humans as if they were dolls. The armoured trolls used by the Dawnguard have not received any changes however, making them smaller and weaker than their wild counterparts, but also more flexible, considering how most wild trolls now are all too large to fit through many openings. As terrifyingly powerful as they now are, it correlates well with the lore and that some people spend time to specifically hunt trolls. Trolls are now also extremely vulnerable to fire.


Werewolves

Considering how many limitations there are for a player who transforms into a werewolf, it makes sense that their attack damage is increased a lot. It is also sensible that the werewolf's power scales with the rest of Skyrim's animals and beasts. In the vanilla game, it didn't make any sense that the player would be capable of dealing more melee damage in their normal form than in their wolf form. Now transforming into a werewolf will always be useful, even if you otherwise have some really powerful gear.


Dwarven Automatons

Some of these robots are surprisingly weak; others are covered in massive armour. As a rule of thumb, when facing them, you should be prepared for that they probably are very tough to take down, and that their attacks will hurt you really, really bad. Remember that they are robots covered in massive metal plates and have arms made out of sharp weapons. They will definitely deliver more dangerous blows that you ever will be able to with a sword or an axe.


Atronachs

Spending time summoning different types of atronachs is now actually worth it. With increased stats and sizes corresponding to their respective abilities, these creatures have gone from a distraction to a main focus of any battle involving conjuration. Their newfound strength is somewhat balanced though, by the fact that they also have distinct weaknesses.

• The Flame Atronach has decent magicka regeneration but still a weakness to frost. Being the smallest and simplest Atronach one can conjure up, it is reasonable that this isn't a very dangerous creature in comparison to the rest.
• The Frost Atronach has significantly more health than in the vanilla game, is a lot stronger and will knock down people and small enemies. However, it's also much larger, making it far less flexible, as well as it takes 20 times as much damage from fire.
• The Storm Atronach has almost no limit to its magicka pool, as well as an extremely powerful melee attack. However, with a significant size increase, it's not very flexible, and thus hiding from it can be quite easy.
  

Along with creatures you can encounter, the playable races have also received some sight tweaks. All races now have a base carry weight of 100 (instead of 300) with the exception of Orcs, who got 200. Orcs now also do significantly more damage in unarmed combat, as well as they start with 50 less magicka compared with the other races, but also a bit more health. All this is in contrast to Bretons, who are physically weaker and do slightly less damage in unarmed combat. Vampires take more damage to sunlight.

The heights of the playable races have also been slightly tweaked, with Altmer remaining the tallest among elves, but Orcs being the tallest race in general. Bosmer males are now of average height rather than short.

Notice: If you are unhappy with the changes to races and have another mod which deals with that part, place the other race mod later in your load order and all the features you dislike should be overwritten and not affect your game. In the end however, most of the race changes are minor enough that unless you are picky, you won't really notice them very much. When choosing a race mod, we can recommend our mod Skyrace, which is an excellent alternative for overwriting these parts of Skywild.



Things that are NOT changed

Nothing in the Forgotten Vale has received any changes, since that is a part of a quest rather than wilderness exploration.

None of the creatures originating from Solstheim have received any changes, since their vanilla stats actually were really good to begin with.

Skywild does not affect dragons in any way whatsoever. This is mainly for three reasons:

• Dragons are not really animals or monsters, but rather quest-based creatures and part of the story.
• If dragons had any of their stats tweaked, chances are that shouts and quests would have balancing issues.
• Many people probably have other mods which specifically deal with both dragons and shouts.
  

Why choose Skywild?

The mod isn't overly complex and doesn't add any new confusing AI features. It just significantly increases the level of danger and realism. Any player who enjoys hardcore game mechanics and immersive gameplay would like Skywild. The animals in the vanilla game are indeed weak in comparison to the humanoid characters, a fact which never made much sense. Skywild also works great alongside other hardcore immersion mods, such as Frostfall and Wildcat. Additionally, Skytoxin is a useful mod of the same origin that allows for the hunt to become a bit easier for any player choosing to use poisons.


Balancing

The creatures you will encounter are indeed stronger than those of the base game. They should not be considered unbalanced however, since they scale and compare pretty well with each other. A bear can kill an elk, an elk can kill a wolf, and a wolf pack can take down a wounded elk.

The bear doesn't care the slightest whether you're a novice adventurer who just escaped from Helgen, or if you are the world's most accomplished hero who saved the world countless times. If you are reckless enough and come too close, the bear will maul you to death. It's as simple as that. Your experience and level won't grant you enough strength to physically brawl with a bear; your experience simply grants you the knowledge for how to deal with it in a safe way.


Installation

Using Vortex is the recommended method.


Requirements

All you need is Skyrim.


Compatibility

Skywild should be fully compatible with any mods as long as they don't affect creatures or races. Even if you are using such mods however, simply placing Skywild higher up in the load order will automatically allow the particular features that the other mod changed to overwrite Skywild. At the same time, all other features from Skywild should remain and work fine.

It is highly recommended to start a new character for using this mod to ensure that all new features start working as intended.

It is not recommended to use Skywild alongside any mods that add new creatures to the game, such as Animallica. There wouldn't be any technical issues or bugs, but considering the creatures would follow a different system of stats, things could look a bit strange.


Check out our other small, yet effective immersion mods:

Skytoxin - Poisons are extremely potent and dangerous.

Serious Crimes of Skyrim - Crimes committed by the player are taken very seriously.

Gravity of Nirn - Fall damage is the same for everyone and at truly realistic levels.

Skylock - Locks are actually hard to crack.

Skydrown - Diving is less realistic but more realistically challenging.

Skyswim - Swimming is encumbering if you do it wrong.

Skyrace - A race mod which attempts to make Skyrim more realistic and races more diverse.

Skyband - Bandit groups will be much more realistic and not use magic.