Can I Beat Skyrim Legendary Survival Difficulty With ONLY UNARMED?! | Skyrim Legendary Challenge!

i love the whole idea of Phisten being a Khajiit who is way in over his head! having to step back from quests and being like 'I'LL COME BACK LATER! YOU DIDNT WIN!' such a novel visual to me.

Respect

Beautiful video, the transition effect when you explained the run at the beginning make me feel like I'm having a seizure though, 9.5/10

I loved watching this challenge run cause when I was a lot younger and had just found Skyrim for the first time, I immediately picked a Khajiit cause I thought they looked neat. The claws ended up carrying me through the entire game, I upgraded my armor and other equipment normally, but never used a sword. Felt like watching myself play for the first time again

I always assumed that Argonains deal more damage with their fists because they have scales, while Khajiti actually make proper use of their claws

The draugr infested caves with the companions was easy for you from me there was 5 death Lords in there maybe it's because I was a higher level because when I did that I was level like 42

In that first Thieves Guild Quest where you burn down the beehives when I went in the house and they spotted me I just stood on the table and killed all of them

I tried an unarmed build and it was fun and all but the unarmed range is ridiculous. Sneak attacking is impossible because you bump into the enemy before you can attack them

Could you tell us what visual mods / ENB are you using on this run?

fact on Kodlak thing you talked about, he sent you alone because he was testing on if you should take leadership of the companions.

I like this run since you made some mistakes that seem rather obvious to someome who played this game for way too many hours. Firstly, don't wear any light armor when going for this since you'll need level-ups in heavy armor for the Fists of Steel-perk anyway and any over-leveling (aka leveling the wrong stuff) really hurts you. Secondly, you can easily do the Thieves' Guild introduction without beating any of the traders up by exploring different options. But, like I said, I actually like watching less optimized runs, it's something different - keep up the great work !

I recently did my mandatory annual Skyrim play through and did an unarmed build for the first time. I loved it, honestly it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had with Skyrim’s combat.

One thing I wish I could’ve changed about it though. My original idea was to do a one-handed build, i.e. only use a shield. My idea was to get that one spiky shield that causes bleed damage, and just punch with my free hand. But you can’t do that effectively because you have to be completely unarmed for most of the good unarmed perks to be usable. That was a bummer for me, but otherwise the unarmed build was super duper fun and if read this and you’re thinking about trying it, DO IT NOW!

Your scripting heavily heavily feels Muhdrybread inspired.

DENTAL APPOINTMENT

just found your channel and am already loving it <3 easy sub from me, youre very entertaining and creative!

why does a mod called "insect begone" replace spiders?... spiders aren't insects lol

Lmao seeing you get beaten in fisticuffs by an argonian barmaid is peak skyrim
Fyi i learned early on (because every new profile starts with uthgaurd barfight, her items are better then most loot found early on) that the ai will let you quite easily weave out of the way of All their unarmed melee strikes
So on legendary my fights would usual take dozens and dozens of hits since i rarely play kajhit or argonian
And almost always i would avoid being hit. All punches have a semi long after swing animation where you can move in, punch, move back out of range
Repeat 50+ times to beat uthgaurd
Admittedly i have a few hundred hours so things i learnt a very long time ago feel instinctual and I cant expect you to automatically know it

Khajit underperforms Orsimer here. Rage gives more of a damage buff than 22.

Spiders into bears spell earned the like, but I’ll never forgive Bethesda for removing unarmed.

The % on your class pole is 99 btw idk if it's because the number is soo close to 2k and it rounded but it shouldn't have. (Big huge cocane sniff) I smell... oh my dog farted I think It was weird rounding.

There’s quite a lot of unarm overhaul mods which add cool martial art combat animations and kill moves plus if you wanna be magic monk there’s mods for that too. Arcane brawlers for one gives your fist elemental damage

I would like to point out that choosing a Khajiit was not the best option here, while it’s still very good, it’s only good early game as it starts to plateau pretty quickly. What doesn’t plateau, is the Orc. Thanks to the inherent racial trait given to Orcs, that being Blood Rage, you can double your damage output and halve all damage received. So if you have Daedric brawler's gauntlets, and then pop Blood Rage, you double your damage output. Through testing of an unarmed build myself, I too thought that Khajiits would make for the best build, but Orcs are much better overall, though it probably helps that I went into it intending to make a good unarmed build so I knew what I was getting into.

Never in my life have I ever seen someone get something done on the third try so many times 😂😂😂 third times the charm is REAL

I love the vids, huge fan just like everyone else, but honest critique from me personally? the ending narration seemed rushed as HELL. I felt out of breath just listening to you speedrun the final parts of the game o.o maybe go slower on it next time? were you in a rush to get the video out?

Another good character name would have been Ken, because it means "fist" in Japanese. Although if you do that, you also have to make him a human with spiky hair and a sleeveless leather jacket.

It's perfectly possible to beat Skyrim with unarmed only... you're just gonna reach the armor cap, put two or three points in health for every point of stamina when leveling up, probably grab Ebony Flesh for additional defense and the rest you can stack up on potions so fights are just gonna be long and tedious, but ultimately no more difficult... plus stealth is OP to the point where stealth archery is overrated.

The only run I'd think would be genuinely challenging for Skyrim would be an archery run with zero stealth where you're not allowed to craft or purchase arrows.

The fact that the answer to arachnophobia was bears nearly killed me. Laughed out loud at quarter to 4 in the morning 😂😂😂

Actually i believe there is a glitch, that makes it so that if you pick an argonian, get the necromage perk, and become a vampire, it well actually boost your unarmed damage way beyond that of a Khajiit, even with the same process. I don't remeber exactly how to do it or what the order is but i definitely remember watching a video of someone making that build.

Not sure if it’s been mentioned, but vampire lord is actually the best for unarmed builds WITHOUT needing to actually be transformed. At level 46 you get a 50 unarmed bonus plus you can get another 20 poison from a vampire lord perk that works whole untransformed as well. Plus you get access to a ring with the VL route that gives 100 hp and 20 unarmed. Finally theirs a gauntlet in the Anniversary edition that gives 20 unarmed plus another 15 with the heavy armor perk for unarmed damage. If my math is right you can hit 137 unarmed as a Kajhit Vampire Lord which can be bumped to 151 with the necromage perk. A lot of work but it can make you pretty strong. Necromage gets even crazier with the magic defense from the alteration tree and lord stone, bumping up your magic def from 55% to almost 69%.

You can actually fast travel in survival without any mods.

Right after leaving through a loading zone open your map, you should be able to fast travel if you open the map fast enough.

Where u download mods?

you asked whether we want more stream moments, I say no thank you, I would watch a vod if I wanted those.

I wonder if you'd have been able to take a different track here. Like, obviously you needed to deal damage, but could you potentially have managed without werewolf form by going for a tankier build? I think the Alteration school spells like Oakflesh and Stoneflesh still boost you even when wearing armor, and there's a variety of extra health enchantments and potions and stuff I think you can get. It still might not have been enough overall, but it might be a different track if you ever re-visit this challenge?

One thing I've noticed during my playtroughs that may actually help someone who is looking for an unarmed build, is that an argonian vampire lord with the special vampire ring you get doing missions after completing the dawnguard questline siding, well, with the vampires, is that the multiplier go nuts and makes you deal more damage than a Khajit in the same scenario would do for some reason I have no idea why, making you able to do massive damage and actually one-hit some NPCs...


Not most of them tho lol.

Unarmed is one of the strongest, if not the strongest tho...

AND HIS NAME IS WILL CENA! Tuuuu tuuu ruuu tuuuu
Sorry, couldn't help it seeing some of those finishers XD

It’s worth pointing out depending on ur level the bugs can be worse then bears cuz of the poison damage u take on legendary is absurd.

There's an alternate way to survive this challenge, but it's a little differently difficult:
Become a Vampire Lord, and you'll have an infinitely usable way to deal massive unarmed damage, and if you side with the vampires in the Dawnguard questline, you'll have access to a ring that boosts your unarmed damage by 25 and stays equipped while you're transformed.

I do like how the game begins with you seeing some of the worst the Empire has to offer. This obviously gets most to join the Stormcloaks.
And then as a Stormcloak, they start seeing how sh*tty it is being one. First step into Windhelm to join and you see the Nords harassing a Dark Elf for being a Dark Elf. (A Dark Elf who is actually working for a Nord in an effort to drive the East Empire Company, an Imperial nationalized company, out of Skyrim.)
You are then berated by one of the Nords who hates you for existing and goes around the Dark Elf community shouting drunken slurs at them at night.
Yeah. That one Imperial captain ruined the Empire's chances at winning the war by being a b*tch.

I have a fallout new Vegas challenge I think you’d be perfect for, although I don’t think you play the game, your commentary would make the run perfect

So the big crawly ones get to you

Hey, totally new watcher but can I just say I love the restrictions you put on yourself, and how you stay true to the spirit of the game and challenge.

I liked how you used the werewolf form to continue the challenge when it seemed progress was far too slow, but that you always tried to work towards making your initial build idea work. Kept variety but also you made sure it didn't feel like the initial challenge had been scrapped or anything.

Refusing to do infinite loop meta (e.g. alchemy -> enchanting) was important too, because you stopped the crux of your gameplay becoming reliant one very basic and overpowered strategy. Also with the janky AI, it's sometimes (or actually almost always) too easy to just run around and ignore enemies, so I'm glad you tend to actually fight all the enemies in your path (except stealth missions - that's different IMO).

Someone mentioned that you didn't have as much preparation for your combat as you could have, and I think that's honestly quite a good thing. It's not super fun relying on potion chugging to get you through everything, because it can detract from the other more interesting methods of making your build viable.

Anyway really enjoyed this, so thanks, hope you keep uploading stuff like it :)

phisten the feline

Not only should you enable fast travel in Skyrim hardcore runs, you should enable in Fallout 4 survival runs too. It just wastes your time, makes them less fun to do, and less likely you’ll wanna actually do them. Tedious tile wasting mechanics that don’t add anything aren’t really content or worth doing

How about a Fallout or Skyrim challenge you're a hoarder that can't sell or dismantle anything you see and you have to use the weapons you pick up

Challenge idea: tools only
You can only use the weapons listed
Fishing rod
Pickaxe
And the Woodcutter's axe
No magic for fights but can use it for consider the challenge
It was fun to see this one I laughed soooo hard I did the challenge that I suggested it will work trust me tho it is a hard challenge but you can do it

Note do duel wielding for is helps out a bunch and orc for their ability for double damage output and half damage taken