Skyrim:Damage

Damage is a broad term that refers to anything that lowers the health of the player, an NPC, and/or a creature.

Environmental Damage

Environmental Damage refers to damage caused by the environment, such as falling and drowning.

Falling Damage

Graph illustrating falling damage

Falling from a high place can damage your health or kill you. By default, the amount of damage caused by falling is calculated as:

Player falling damage = ((height - 600) * 0.1)1.45 * modifiers

The Cushioned Heavy Armor perk reduces falling damage by half.

The internal height units are 64 per yard. The second story of a house is about 4 yards up. The graph shows falling damage (without the perk) by height in yards.

A fall of up about 9 yards or less will not hurt you; however, the range of heights from which falling will hurt but not kill you is fairly narrow. In general, falling more than three stories is potentially fatal. Falling damage can be avoided by landing in moderately deep water or by using the Become Ethereal shout before falling.

NPCs take more damage from falling than you do:

NPC falling damage = ((height - 450) * 0.1)1.65 * modifiers

Therefore, using Unrelenting Force and other attacks that may push enemies off a significant height can be an effective method of attack.

The formulae given above are based on default settings. The formula using the actual game settings is as follows (adding "NPC" to the end of each setting name when dealing with NPCs):

falling damage = ((height - fJumpFallHeightMin) * fJumpFallHeightMult)fJumpFallHeightExponent * modifiers

Drowning

If you remain submerged in water for 20 seconds you will begin taking damage at a rate of about 20 damage per second until you surface again for air. This can be avoided by using a potion or enchanted item with the Waterbreathing effect.

NPCs cannot drown, as they do not remain submerged underwater long enough to take damage. ^{[verification needed — see talk page]}

Physical Damage

Combat damage refers to damage caused directly by either the player, an NPC, or creature.

Power Attacks

Power attacks can be used to deal extra damage or be more effective against an opponent who is blocking. They are performed by holding down, instead of tapping, the attack button. A power attack has a chance of staggering its target and consumes Stamina according to the following formula.

power attack stamina cost = (40 + weapon weight * 2) * attack cost multiplier * (1 - perk effect)

The amount of Stamina available when you execute a power attack and the amount of Stamina consumed by the attack do not influence how much damage is dealt. However, if you do not have enough stamina to perform a power attack, the stamina bar will flash green and you will perform a regular attack instead.

You can perform several kinds of power attacks depending on which movement control you press as you attack and what weapon you are using. If you push the forward input while performing a power attack, you will execute a dash strike, useful to close distance quickly. Moving backwards will cause you to step back and then strike, useful for avoiding and countering enemy attacks. Left and right inputs can be used to sidestep enemy attacks, and with the Sweep perk, a left or right power attack can strike all enemies in a forward arc when using a two-handed weapon. If you are dual wielding, holding down both the left and right attack buttons at the same time results in fast, a three-hit power attack that attacks with both weapons. If you are using only your fists, you will perform a similar three punch strike when the same input is used. Both of these attacks count as three separate power attacks and will consume Stamina accordingly.

Attack Type	Damage	Stagger	Stamina Use
Single Weapon	x2	x1	x1
Dual-Wield (x3 attacks)	x1.5	x1	x0.5
Bash	x0.5	x0.5	x1
Power Bash	x1.5	x1.5	x1
Unarmed	x1	x0.5	x1

Critical Strikes

A critical strike provides extra damage upon a successful blow. All weapons except staves can strike a critical with the right perks. Sneak attacks and critical strikes are counted separately. A critical strike is calculated from the base damage of a weapon. The weapons page lists each weapon's base damage value. Smithing, skill points, enchantments and power attacks do not modify the extra damage dealt. A sprinting power attack with the Critical Charge or Great Critical Charge perk performs a regular power attack + a double critical strike. A double critical strike inflicts twice the amount of extra damage that a critical strike with a two-handed sword with Deep Wounds Rank 1 inflicts, and a little more than twice (approximately 2.2 times) what a one-handed sword with Bladesman Rank 1 inflicts. Simply put, a weapon gets its base damage as extra damage when it scores a double critical strike.

Two-Handed Perk Rank Value Chance Deep Wounds 1 base damage × 0.5 10% 2 base damage × 0.5 × 1.25 15% 3 base damage × 0.5 × 1.25 × 1.5 20% Great Critical Charge base damage × 1

One-Handed Perk Rank Value Chance Bladesman 1 base damage × 0.455 10% 2 base damage × 0.455 × 1.25 15% 3 base damage × 0.455 × 1.5 20% Critical Charge base damage × 1

A two-handed weapon with a base damage of 20 does 10 extra points of damage with 1 rank of Deep Wounds, 12.5 with 2, 18.75 with 3, and 20 when performing a sprinting power attack with Great Critical Charge.

Difficulty Level

There are 5 difficulty settings, accessible from the Journal (Journal > System > Settings > Gameplay): Novice (very easy), Apprentice (easy), Adept (normal), Expert (hard), and Master (very hard). Patch 1.9 adds a sixth difficulty level: Legendary. Easier settings cause your attacks to be more powerful and for attack damage dealt to you to be reduced while harder settings cause you to deal less damage with attacks and take more damage from incoming attacks. The only other effect it has on the game is on the health costs of the Equilibrium spell.

You can change the difficulty level at any time, even in the midst of combat. If you are struggling with a certain enemy or group of enemies, it is possible to adjust to an easier setting, kill the enemy, and then return to your previous difficulty.

Difficulty	Player Damage Dealt	Player Damage Taken
Novice	x2	x0.5
Apprentice	x1.5	x0.75
Adept	x1	x1
Expert	x0.75	x1.5
Master	x0.5	x2
Legendary	x0.25	x3

NPC-Only

To meet our site's higher standard of quality, this article or section may require cleanup. The user who placed this here had the following concern: All Extra Damage 1.5 NPCs need sorting into the correct three versions. To leave a message about the cleanup for this article, please add it to this article's talk page

Extra Damage is an NPC-only perk used by many leveled NPCs in Skyrim. There are multiple versions of the perk under the same name, although they all have the same effect—inflicting significantly more damage on the player than any other character. Some versions of this perk only work when attacking the player character, meaning that if the player does somehow manage to get the perk it won't do anything. It isn't known whether the other versions of the perk would work.

Versions 

Name	Editor ID	ID	×	Two handed ×	Player level	Special Conditions	NPCs/Creatures
Extra Damage 1.5	crExtraDamage0112	0010d1e1	1.12	1.00			Ancient Frost AtronachDG Bandit BradynDB CelannDG Dark Brotherhood Assassin DurakDG Dwarven Ballista MasterDB Feran SadriDG Garan MarethiDG KeeperDG Lurker GuardianDB MalkusDG MireliDB NamasurDG RonthilDG StalfDG Vald VingalmoDG
Extra Damage 1.5	crExtraDamage015	00103a8f	1.50	1.25
Extra Damage 1.5	crNerfDamage05	0010c041	0.50	0.50
Extra Damage 2	crExtraDamage02	00101075	2.00	1.50			Arch-Curate VyrthurDG Bandit Chaurus HunterDG Forsworn Pillager Guardian Troll Spirit Hulking DraugrDB IsranDG KarstaagDB KeeperDG Lurker SentinelDB Mudcrab Guardian Spirit Orchendor Skeever Guardian Spirit Ralis SedarysDB RieklingDB
Extra Damage 2.5	crExtraDamage025	00103a90	2.50	1.75			Bandit Forsworn Briarheart Forsworn Ravager KeeperDG Lurker VindicatorDB Mounted RieklingDB Nightlord VampireDG Nightmaster VampireDG Riekling ChiefDB Riekling HunterDB Riekling RiderDB Riekling ScoutDB Riekling WarriorDB
Extra Damage 3	crExtraDamage03	000fa2c5	3.00	2.00			KeeperDG Ebony WarriorDB Riekling CourserDB
Extra Damage 3.5	crExtraDamage035	00103a91	3.50	2.25			Riekling ChargerDB
Extra Damage 4	crExtraDamage04	000fa2c4	4.00	2.50
Extra Damage 4.5	crExtraDamage045	00103a92	4.50	3.00
Extra Damage 5	crExtraDamage05	000fa2c6	5.00	3.50
Extra Damage 6	crExtraDamage06	00101076	6.00	6.00
Extra Damage	CWGuardExtraDamageToPlayer	0010bf7d	1.25	1.25		Only against the player	Hjaalmarch Guard Imperial Guard Jailor Pale Hold Guard Redoran GuardDB Riften Guard Jailor Roadside Guard
Extra Damage	CWSoldierExtraDamageToPlayer	0010b1d9	1.50	1.50	10 ≤ x < 15	Only against the player	Arrald Frozen-Heart Frorkmar Banner-Torn Gonnar Oath-Giver Hjornskar Head-Smasher Imperial Deserter Imperial Officer Imperial Quartermaster Istar Cairn-Breaker Kai Wet-Pommel Kottir Red-Shoal Legate Adventus Caesennius Legate Constantius Tituleius Legate Emmanuel Admand Legate Fasendil Legate Hrollod Legate Quentin Cipius Legate Sevan Telendas Legate Skulnar Legate Taurinus Duilis Stormcloak Quartermaster Thalmor Prisoner Thorygg Sun-Killer Yrsarald Thrice-Pierced
			2.00	2.00	15 ≤ x < 20
			2.50	2.50	20 ≤ x < 25
			3.00	3.00	25 ≤ x < 30
			2.00	2.00	30 ≤ x < 35

Reduced Damage and Reduce Damage are perks used by some NPCs in Skyrim. There are multiple versions of the perks, although they all have the same effect—reducing incoming attack damage by multiplying it by some factor smaller than one.

Versions 

Name	Editor ID	ID	×	NPCs/Creatures
Reduced Damage 0.35DG	crReduceDamage035	xx015c62	0.35
Reduced Damage 0.5	crReduceDamage05	00107e29	0.5	Guardian Troll Spirit Mudcrab Guardian Spirit Orchendor Queen Potema
Reduce Damage	MQ101ReduceDamage	0005cebe	0.5
Reduce Damage	MQ101SpiderReduceDamage	0010e001	0.5
Reduce Damage	MS02ReduceDamage	001069bb	0.75
Reduced Damage 0.75	crReduceDamage075	0010ec8d	0.75	Dwarven BallistaDB
Reduce DamageDB	DLC2MQ06MiraakExtraDamageDragonsPerk	xx03d5cd	(?)	KruziikrelDB RelonikivDB
Reduce DamageDB	DLC2MQ06DragonNerfDamageMiraakPerk	xx03d5b4	(?)	MiraakDB
Reduce Attack Damage	MQ101ReduceAttackDamage	0005cec0	0.5	Imperial Captain Torturer's Assistant
Reduce Attack Damage	MQ101BearReduceDamage	00109c1b	0.8