About this mod
General Rebalance and fixes for the enemies of Darkend, for a more lenient experience on the island of Pharos
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs

This mod provides a comprehensive collection of tweaks, fixes, and nerfs for the enemies of Darkend on the Island of Pharos, for a less punishing experience.
________________________ ~ FEATURES ~ ________________________
● Reduced the damage output of all creatures.
● Removed or nerfed the most extreme resistances of all creatures.
● Decreased the health pools to more sensible values.
● Fixed bugs on enemy behavior and records.
● Optional: Added descriptions to the few miscellaneous items you can find on the Island
● Optional: Nerfed the incredibly powerful weapons you can acquire.
_________________________________________________________________________
With the aim to create a more lenient experience, and to make the difficulty more in line with the recommended starting level by jkrojmal (Level 15)
For those who are not interesting in making extremely powerful or specialized characters. but still wish to complete their journey on the beautifully crafted and gloomy island
this patch was originally made for personal use so all these changes are subjective.
if you still find the enemies too hard, too easy, or simply don't agree with some of the changes leave a comment I'm open to any kind of feedback to improve this mod!
Also as a bonus, i included 3 optional plugins for Darkend
the first implements descriptions to miscellaneous items, to better explain their possible use and some flavor text
the second just contains the fixes of the main file, for those that want to keep the original difficulty (why?)
the third a small rebalance of the weapons you obtain on pharos
thanks and i hope you enjoy the changes

You can find here what specifically the mod does
Tweaks & Fixes
Changes that aren't specifically balances
- All npcs on Darkend missing appropriate keywords have been given one. Most notably skeletons and undead dogs, anti-undead spells and silver weapons were ineffective against them until now.
- Renamed duplicated ebony shields and weapons for easier distinction (they are now named "Ebony Guardian [weapon/shield] of [element]"
- Renamed the Armored Guardian Knights white boss variant to Armored Guardian Keeper for easier distinction (since they carry "keeper" keys)
- Fixed the Attack Behavior of the cursed armor now he finally attacks instead of just blocking and bashing.
- Fixed ebony "bound weapons" ebony swords classified as bound weapons that could be picked up but not equipped or dropped adding weight permanently to your character
Mod Changelog
Descriptions of the optional plugins found in the files section, as the name implies, use these only if you are interested
ALL the plugins are ESL Flagged
- Optional Plugin 1: Darkend - Item Descriptions
An ini file that gives the few miscellaneous items in Darkened description. it requires the Description Framework
you can read the descriptions below
- Ancient tree bark -
The wooden bark taken from the living trees of the Island of Pharos. It could be used to temper a particularly sturdy bow.
- Crown -
The forgotten currency of Pharos. While no merchant will accept this coin as a legitimate currency, the materials which the coin is made of, is still valuable for selling.
- Black Pearl Gem -
A mysterious pitch black gem found on the island of Pharos. Valuable item for collectors and seemingly able to the temper cursed weapons of the land.
- Frosted Dragon Feather -
The frozen feather of the Ancient Guardian Dragon from the Island of Pharos. you can feel a cold breeze blowing from the feather...
- Ancient Guardian Essence - (Unused?)
The essence that gives power to the Ancient Guardians that still roam the Island of Pharos, Highly valuable item for collectors because of its rarity.
- Shell - (Unused?)
Strange Shell in the shape of a Septim.
- Optional Plugin 2: Darkend - Tweaks & Fixes
Plugin only containing the Tweaks & Fixes from the rebalance, only use this or the main mod as the main mod already contains
all the these changes.
- Optional Plugin 3: Darkend - Weapon Nerf
Decreases the damage of weapons the player can acquire to ebony weapons stats so they aren't so overpowered
Agony, Despair, Torment & Ceremonial Claymore
Bosses
Old King Shadow
Probably the most broken boss I've ever seen from a skyrim mod
(seriously even with all these nerfs the guy can still kill the ebony warrior)
Reduced his Health offset from 8800 to 3800
Reduced his Stamina offset from 9000 to 2000
Reduced his Magicka offset from 9000 to 2000
Reduced his onehanded skill from 100 to 50
Reduced his Destruction skill from 100 to 50
Reduced the damage of his personal non-playable sword from 56 to 30 (For comparison, the dragonbone Warhammer does 28 points of damage)
Replaced his personal spell "Heavy Sparks" for a concentration spell of Firebolts, so they are easier to dodge
Now he has access to fire shouts, he will use them along the firebolts at long distance (Feedback is welcome)
Perks Removed:
- "Deep Wounds"
- "Well Fitted"
- "Bladesman"
- "Armsman"
- "Reflect Blows"
- "Magic Resistance 30%"
- "Extra Damage 4"
- "XJKIncreaseDamage"
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% Damage reduction to 20%
Armored Guardian Knights
Just a little less tanky...
These changes affects all of the variants of the Armored Guardian Knights only
- Renamed the white boss variant to "Armored Guardian Kepeer" for easier distinction
- Decreased health offset from the white variant from 650 to 400
Perks Removed:
- XJKIncreaseDamage Removed the 2x damage multiplier
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 20%
- Magic Resistance Decreased from 30% to 10%
Royal Champion Shadow
Oh yeah, snipe me, slash me how fun!
Decreased Base Health from 2890 to 2000
Decreased Health offset from 2500 to 1500
Decreased Stamina offset from 600 to 300
Reduced the onehanded skill from 94 to 50
Reduced the Marksman skill from 89 to 40
Decreased damage of torment bound arrows from 29 to 20
Perks Removed:
- "Extra damage 4"
- "Critical Shot"
- "Limb Splitter"
- "Hack and Slash"
- "Quick Shot"
- "Bladesman"
- Power Shot
- Overdraw
- Well Fitted
- Reflect Blows
- Magic Resistance 30%
- XJKhalfDamagePerk "Armored Quarter Damage Perk"
- XJKIncreaseDamage
Ancient Guardian Dragon
He is certainly guarding
Reduced the Health offset from 7000 to 2000
Decreased the damage of his "Ice storm" Shout from 200 to 50 and duration from 3 seconds to 2
Perks Removed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk "Armored Quarter Damage Perk"
- XJKIncreaseDamageX3
The Last Guardian
Not even the king had that much health!
- Decreased Base health from 18896 to 10000
- Decreased Health offset from 18000 to 4000
- Decreased Stamina offset from 9000 to 3000
- Decreased Magicka offset from 9000 to 3000
Decreased the magnitude damage of the "shouts" by 50%
Perks Removed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk "Armored Quarter Damage Perk"
Perks Changed
- XJKIncreaseDamageX3 Decreased the 3x damage multiplier to 1.5x
Generic Enemies
Skeleton Knights
Our generic skeleton rascals' made a little less tanky
These changes affects all of the variants of the Skeleton Knights only
Reduced the twohanded skill from 56 to 40
Reduced the onehanded skill from 56 to 40
Reduced the block skill from 43 to 30
Perks Removed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk "Armored Quarter Damage Perk"
Skeleton Knights Archer
Archers isn't the first thing you think when you hear the word powerful...
These changes affects all of the variants of the Skeleton Knights Archer only
Reduced the marksman skill from 56 to 25
Reduced the marksman skill of a special variant from 100 to 45
Perks Removed:
- "Magic Resistance 30%"
- XJKhalfDamagePerk "Armored Quarter Damage Perk"
Skeleton Knight Keeper
Oops! all skeletons!
These changes affects all of the variants of the Skeleton Knights only
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 20%
- XJKIncreaseDamage Decreased the 2x damage multiplier to 1.5x
Elite Knight Shadow
Just a little less powerful, these were the elite after all!
These changes affects all of the variants of the Elite Knights Shadow only
Reduced the onehanded skill from 67 to 50
Reduced the twohanded skill from 67 to 50
Reduced the block skill from 50 to 40
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 10%
Undead Hound
Armored Undead dogs, Horrifying!
These changes affects all of the variants of the Undead Hound only
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 20%
- XJKIncreaseDamage Decreased the 2x damage multiplier to 1.5x
Ritualist
They don't look THAT armored...
These changes affects all of the variants of the Ritualist only
Perks Removed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk
Ascended Ritualist
Powerful ritualist that serve as mini-bosses, they still don't look that armored...
These changes affects all of the variants of the Ascended Ritualist only
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 20%
Ebony Knight Guardian
Warriors Apparently made of ebony, as powerful as it sounds
These changes affects all of the variants of the Ebony Knight Guardian only
Perks Removed:
"Extra Damage 1.5"
"Hack and Slash"
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 20%
Ebony Guardian Archer
Ow! where did that arrow come from?!
These changes affects all of the variants of the Ebony Guardian Archer only
Perks Removed:
"Extra Damage 1.5"
"Critical Shot"
"XJKIncreaseDamage" Removed the 2x damage multiplier
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 0%
Ebony Knight Keeper
blood of Lorkhan
These changes affects all of the variants of the Ebony Knight Keeper only
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 20%
Armored Brute
Where did they even got so many Ebony?!
Perks Removed:
Magic Resistance
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 20%
Ice Beast & Ancient Ice Beast
Prepare for trouble, and make it double!
These nerfs affect both versions
Perks Removed
- XJKIncreaseDamage
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% damage reduction to 25%
Ice Leviathan
Just annoying
These changes affects all of the variants of the Ice Leviathan only
Reduced Health Offset from 100 to 50
Perks Removed:
"XJKIncreaseDamage"
Ancient Ice Leviathan
Even more annoying!
- Decreased Base health from 1755 to 1000
- Decreased Health Offset from 1200 to 600
Perks Removed:
"XJKIncreaseDamageX3" Removed 3x damage multiplier
Cursed Armor & Cursed Armor Keeper
Oh! It's not ONE set of armor. It's ALL the armors!
These changes affects the Cursed Armor & Keeper variant only
- Fixed Attack Behavior now he finally attacks instead of just blocking and bashing
- Decreased Stamina offset from 950 to 150
- Decreased two handed skill from 77 to 44
- Decreased Cursed armor's Non-Playable battleaxe damage from 19 to 15
- Decreased Keeper's Non-Playable battleaxe damage from 29 to 20
Perks Changed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% Damage reduction to 25%
Perks Removed:
-"XJKIncreaseDamage"
Stinger
Saw a Stinger the other day. Horrible creatures.
Perks Removed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% Damage reduction to 0%
- "Magic Resistance" 20% to 0%
Dark Apostle
Do you like lighting bolts in YOUR FACE?
Perks Removed:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% Damage reduction to 0%
Rotten Corpse
Corpses of the rotten variety...
Removed Perk:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% Damage reduction to 0%
Living Bark
as if you didn't have enough with spriggans...
Removed Perk:
- XJKhalfDamagePerk Decreased the 50% Damage reduction to 0%