Do enemies in Skyrim scale?

[Xzall]

Hey,

Do the enemies in this game scale?

If so, all of them?

What about the ones from a "dungeon" or bosses and stuff?

I've tried on this playthrough to rescue a old woman's son from the elves up near Solitude and every enemy in that area was insanely high level - couldn't do anything lol.

[TAGma]

They do, however there are minimum and maximum levels.
For example: Bleak Falls Barrow (draugr crypt) has minimum level 6, max 20.

I think you stumbled upon a "falmer hive", usually their minimum level is 18.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dungeons#Levels

[ShelLuser]

No, not all of them. The dragons that appear will become more powerful based on your level, but other enemies remain the same. So if you return to the area of Riverwood after you managed to level up excessively then any enemy which may have taken you quite a bit of effort before will now be easily slain.

[John]

What level are you, what damage do you do, what difficulty are you playing on, could help you with a bit more info.

[xybolt]

what is your current level?

can you be precise about the location you're talking about?

As TAGma has pointed out, some areas have minimum and maximum levels set, with a sorta multiplier, based on player's level upon first entrance.

[Arondil]

It sounds like the quest to free Fralia's son, Thorald Gray-Mane - the location would be Northwatch Keep, near the Volkihar jetty?

[th]

Some enemies scale. Some not. Full explanation is long.

It is possible that in some area enemies will be with much higher levels than player's level.

[Fear2288]

Originally posted by Arondil:

It sounds like the quest to free Fralia's son, Thorald Gray-Mane - the location would be Northwatch Keep, near the Volkihar jetty?

That’s my assumption too.

To address the OP’s question: yes and no.

Enemies like Bandits, Draugr, Mages have “tiers” to them (Bandit, Bandit Thug, etc) that will scale with the player.

Other enemies though tend to be challenging encounters until you’re near/above their level or have better equipment than them. This includes enemies like Imperial soldiers, Falmer, and Dwarven automatons.

In your case, you’re going up against Thalmor who should be outfitted with Elven armor and be using Steel or Elven weapons (or Glass at even higher player levels).

Thus, if you don’t have the right gear yet to overcome Elven armor and defend against Steel/Elven weapons it may feel pretty challenging.

“Bosses” are usually more powerful variants of whatever enemy type inhabit that dungeon (unless that dungeon has some kind of quest significance or is unique - then the “boss” will be a named NPC who may have a set level); however, they too can scale with the player in regards to their weapons/armor.

For example, a Bandit Chieftain you encounter at level 7 may be outfitted with Steel weapons and armor, but a Bandit Chieftain you encounter at level 20 may have Nordic weapons and armor.

So yeah…it’s kinda a mixed bag when it comes to enemy level scaling.

[Altbert]

OP is probably referring to the quest "Missing in Action" to rescue Thorald Gray-Mane from Northwatch Keep. Suggested minimum level is 12. Some enemies level up with the player but always have a maximum level, others do not and have a fixed level.

[th]

Well, there are opponents with unlimited levels like Astrid or Magic Anomaly. They always scale with player. Such fights even have a tendency to be much harder on higher levels.

[alexander_dougherty]

It's not so much that enemies scale, as the range of enemies scales to you..... So higher level NPCs spawn as you go up in level, and lower level enemies spawn less often (although they never actually stop appearing, a level 70 character still encounters the odd level 1 bandit).

And as people have mentioned dungeons and areas have maximum and minimum levels, so you are unlikely to encounter a high level enemy just outside Whiterun..... unless it spawned elsewhere and wandered over (it does happen)

[Xzall]

Originally posted by Arondil:

It sounds like the quest to free Fralia's son, Thorald Gray-Mane - the location would be Northwatch Keep, near the Volkihar jetty?

Yep, that quest

I'm playin on Expert difficulty btw

I just went to that area after killing my 1st dragon...got my ass beaten by everyone there lol

Encountered a Dragon Priest (I know theyre the hardest enemies in the game) randomly on a mountain, got 1 shotted - at least I got the cool Power Word.

Entered a dungeon, got 2 shotted by a Draugr Warlord.

Went to the Keep to rescue that dude - got absolutely slaughtered by the guards.

Guess I need to take it slow and avoid Solitude area - at least for the first levels.