If you thought dragons were the toughest enemies Skyrim could dish out, you definitely thought wrong. With all the DLCs included, Skyrim has tons of different bosses that are either surprisingly easy to defeat or annoyingly difficult to deal with.
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If you're still loyally playing the game even after nearly ten years since its release and you're looking for a new kind of challenge, we've prepared this handy list of the most powerful bosses. Next time you go on a dangerous quest in Skyrim and meet one of these creatures, you'll know what kind of challenge awaits you and how much you need to invest in it.
Updated on August 11th, 2021 by Anastasia Maillot: While waiting for Elder Scrolls 6, fans might be craving for a fix of Skyrim and challenge themselves to play the classic tale of the Dragonborn again at Legendary difficulty.
At the highest difficulty, some bosses that were already deadly become absolute killing machines. These additional ten bosses are bound to make players pull their hair out in frustration, and require some additional preparation.
10 Wolf Queen Potema*
- Location: Potema's Catacombs in Solitude's Temple of the Divines.
- Related Quest: The Man Who Cried Wolf and The Wolf Queen Awakened.
Feared Wolf Queen Potema actually lives up to her name in Skyrim, at least when she's encountered in the final quest The Wolf Queen Awakened. The last chamber her remains are found in presents a difficult battle for almost all character builds, due to the purple spells that sap away at the Dragonborn's health and magicka.
This fight has multiple stages, making it more demanding than most other bosses. First, Potema's undead creatures must be defeated and killed multiple times as she resurrects them. Potema is only fought last in her ghost form, and she can still use powerful spells to summon atronachs to make the fight incredibly tough.
9 Vahlok The Jailor*
- Location: On Solstheim, head south from the Skaal Village. Inaccessible if player hasn't completed the quest A New Source of Stahlrim.
- Related Quest: Lost Legacy
Most of the dragon priests located on Solstheim are considered some of the toughest boss enemies in the game due to their high level and health pool. And indeed, Vahlok the Jailor is an enemy worthy of his name and infamy. He'll always be at level 50 no matter what and have a whopping 1490 points of health.
Like Ahzidal, he likes to use fire spells and has a variety of mage perks that make him incredibly resistant to magic and damage. Moreover, the room itself is full of fire traps, so without proper fire resistance this fight is bound to be a rough one.
8 Vampire Lord Harkon*
- Location: Castle Volkihar, off the northwestern coast of Skyrim.
- Related Quest: Kindred Judgment
If the Dragonborn decided not to side with Lord Harkon during the quest Bloodline, he'll become the ultimate antagonist of the Dawnguard DLC. As a vampire and the leader of the Volkihar Clan, Harkon is incredibly powerful and only caps at level 60, meaning most of the time he'll scale to the Dragonborn's level and present a real challenge.
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Harkon's strength comes from his quick movement speed, powerful magic and the ability to summon a gargoyle as the fight opens up. He can also become invisible and summon other undead beings like skeletons to aid him.
7 The Gauldur Brothers*
- Location: Folgunthur, Saarthal, Geirmund's Hall and Reachwater Rock. Quest begins by reading the book Lost Legends.
- Related Quest: Forbidden Legend
The quest Forbidden Legend is one of the toughest ones in the game, involving the three Gauldur brothers that each hold a piece of the Gauldur Amulet. Reforging the amulet requires the Dragonborn to not only defeat each of the special draugr individually, but also one more time as ghosts at the end of the quest.
While Mikrul and Jyrik are both easy to fight, Sigdis is a real headache due to the his ability to teleport between the various platforms in the final chamber. Not just that, Sigdis will make copies of himself that will attack the Dragonborn and deal even more damage. The worst part? They all three need to be fought twice.
6 The Mysterious Ebony Warrior*
- Location: Any major city once the Dragonborn is level 80.
- Related Quest: The Ebony Warrior, begins at level 80.
Hailed as one of the most epic enemies in all of Skyrim, the Ebony Warrior is a special enemy only accessible to those who have reached level 80. He'll the appear in any of the major cities and challenge the Dragonborn to an battle to the death.
The Ebony Warrior is the definition of a tank. He can sustain all three Destruction magic elements due to his 50% resistance of them, and he's also 50% resistant to any poison. Unlike most NPCs, he's stacked with unique perks that make him a deadly enemy to face when unprepared. He also has a few powerful spells and even Dragon Shouts he can use to his advantage.
5 Twin Dragons Voslaarum And Naaslaarum
- Location: The frozen lake found in the Forgotten Vale.
- Related Quests: Touching The Sky
Owners of the Dawnguard DLC will be pleased to find out that the experience of fighting dragons is brought to a whole new level once you enter the beautiful area of the Forgotten Vale. Here, you'll witness two dragons break free from underneath an icy lake, before attacking you at the same time.
Since these two Revered Dragons, they're going to be using the Drain Vitality attack on you, which makes them fairly challenging to deal with. Otherwise they behave like regular dragons, fighting two at the same time can be a massive headache.
4 The Forgemaster Dwarven Centurion
- Location: Inside the Ruins of Bthalft, east of the Rift's Imperial Camp and south of Ivarstead, in the final chamber where the Aetherium Forge is.
- Related Quest: Lost To The Ages
Dwemer automatons are some of the most challenging enemies to deal with in Skyrim due to their high damage resistance and damage output. While the Centurions are difficult enough to fight, nothing is as frightening as the Forgemaster in the Dawnguard DLC.
As you seek for the Aetherium Forge, he's the last guardian to rise from the lava to challenge you. What makes the Forgmaster scary is his sheer size compared to regular Centurions, as well as the damage he's able to output. On the bright side, he's vulnerable to frost damage, a weakness that's simple to exploit.
3 Dragon Priest Ahzidal
- Location: Southeast from Raven Rock.
- Related Quest: Unearthed
We all know Dragon Priests are some of the scariest enemies in Skyrim due to their incredible magical powers. As targets they're also very hard to hit, and are often accompanied by Draugr. Such is the case with Ahzidal, no doubt the most annoying Dragon Priest in the game. Not only will he resurrect some friends to help him in the fight, his fire spells deal a nasty amount of damage.
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Most importantly, Ahzidal can use his signature spell surprisingly often due to most likely having an immense magicka pool. Go in with fire resistance and tons of healing, because you'll definitely be needing it.
2 Dragonborn Miraak
- Location: Apocrypha, accessible after reading Black Books on Solstheim.
- Related Quest: At The Summit Of Apocrypha
Miraak is the ultimate antagonist that the base game lacked, but which was added through the Dragonborn DLC. He's a Dragonborn, too, and has a wide range of shouts at his disposal that he can use much more frequently than the player can.
His unique weapon which resembles a fang of sorts is able to drain your stamina, which can hinder movement during the battle. However, the most annoying part about him is how he sacrifices the two dragons by his side to invigorate himself and keep fighting just when you thought you had him.
1 Karstaag The Frost Giant
- Location: Northern coast of Solstheim, inside the Glacial Cave.
- Related Quest: Summoning Karstaag
In the Dragonborn DLC, players have the opportunity to summon this hideous and beastly ghost-like creature known as Karstaag. Armed with powerful attacks, Karstaag can send you flying across the room with a single stomp of his foot.
He's not only strong, he also summons a deadly blizzard to surround the player, which will damage the Dragonborn over time during combat. The immense damage he's able to output, his level which is always 90 and his health pool of 4000 points make him the ultimate enemy of the game.