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

[@WillowPlaysGames]

So apparently in my tired editing stupor I somehow failed to put the patreon outro in properly as it's missing. So this pinned comment will be here to tell the patrons that you are extra beautiful and thank you so much.

[@arifhossain9751]

Is there a reason you didnt use Clear Skies during the Alduin battles, other than, as you said, the juggling of mechanics being tedious?

[@WillowPlaysGames]

no, just the juggling too much

[@odimusprimeyt3099]

​Try doing a power armour only run on fallout 4 where the only way you can deal damage is with power armour, I recently tried it and it seems doable so I'd like you to give it a go 😄

[@Astutedragoon]

@@WillowPlaysGamessince it seems people just wanna ask questions on your top comment (no problem with that just wanted to change the subject) thanks for all the amazing videos, we all love and appreciate your effort and content.

[@modelomegatyler]

i like how the "Where's willow" segments are like actual stealth checks. i can never find the dude.

[@aideeamei]

Where's Willow is now my favorite Sunday pass-time game. Once you get the gist of what activity level you're looking for, you're good. It's just the one imperial that does the least work done :D

[@modelomegatyler]

@@aideeamei that's kinda what i was getting at. he's invisible for me. ^^'

[@aideeamei]

@@modelomegatyler Oh I gotcha, you t-rex :) doesn't move, not a prey :D

[@modelomegatyler]

@@aideeamei and some were just obscured by fog and other environmental effects.

[@aideeamei]

@@modelomegatyler yeah I know but challenge is a challenge, right :D

[@sarbs889]

Hey! Helpful tip for future melee runs in this game. Vegetable stew lets you do infinite power attacks for the duration of the stew as it constantly regens your stamina!

[@WillowPlaysGames]

I used it in this run

[@ItsYou-ker]

Volundrug go brrr

[@thychozwart2451]

​@@ItsYou-ker Longhammer with absorb stamina and chaos damage > volendrung, just a shame that it also has a slower swing speed because volendrung is one of my favorite daedric artefacts

[@Malkontent1003]

​@thychozwart2451 Technically if you use the Elemental Fury shout, the Longhammer can be one of the fastest swinging weapons in the game. That's why I don't ever enchant it.

[@rei_404]

Fallout nv as a cowboy can only use weapons affected by the cowboy perk no stims only Food and drink and the sheriff or bounty hunter duster no drugs but coyote tobacco is fine

[@ratedjentertainment]

That Cribs Tour let me know that Willow is a true Southern Aristocrat.

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Lol

[@unknowngamer37415]

33:35 - I also don't see why the door would need to be like that for the druaguer. It does make sense for the door to be like that though. Having the door require a key and combination makes it safer because it prevents both picking and just guessing the combination. It doesn't matter that The combination is on the back of the key because if you have the key you're meant to be able to open it.

[@SickBastardo]

38:50 Ulfric didn't wuss out of challenge, he literally accepted it. Since he denied his war axe, he refused to "bury the hatchet" and basically say "fuck you Jarl Ballin' no peace for you"

[@Vaughnofthedawn08]

I have never been good enough to play skyrim on legendary mode so it is cool to see someone do it.

[@froggy8714]

Not to mention survival too, it’s tough I’m doing a survival play through on adept and I’m struggling

[@FozzieOzbourne]

Finding or crafting gear that improves your damage in game is essential for Legendary difficulty. 3-4 pieces of gear with +15-20% damage to one or two handed weapons its strong. Even without the loop you can get 50-150% more damage alone

[@Yune_Faded]

Iove the little willow jumping around in the intro

[@TheLateLordKardok]

Love the Alchestbreach-type bit. "Yeah, I was watching this Willow video and..."

[@WillowPlaysGames]

he's one of my favorite fallout creators lol

[@davidwhiteley3665]

I've recently discovered your channel and I'm loving the challenge runs. I was a original PS3 Skyrim, fallout 3 and PS4 fallout 4 fan. Thank you Willow for the content

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Glad you are enjoying!

[@EndlessInfinity1]

A​@@WillowPlaysGames

[@drgonserpent]

I find from my experience survival and crafting only runs have the exact same issue at first it's amazing it's difficult and I have to challenge but then eventually you release it started doesn't matter anymore you have enough money to pay for INS so you can always sleep in bed you have more than enough food to never go hungry and eventually the armor you get is just normal armor without any kind of restriction

[@ArcherCC1599]

The NPC at the fort repeatedly batting you to death into the rocks was hysterical.

[@MortimerFolchert]

Damn those Runs are entertaining :D But I dare you to pick Argonian for your next survival run, no matter the actual challenge xD I do want to put up an Idea though for you to throw into your polls: You can only skill & use 1 Skilltree from each Group. 1 Warrior Skill, 1 Thief Skill & 1 Mage Skill. You fail, when you level up any skill you've not chosen.* *unless a quest/book grants you a free skill-up, those are allowed outside of your choice.. Warrior: - Smithing / Heavy Armor / Block / One-handed / Two-handed / Archery Thief: - Alchemy / Light Armor / Sneak / Lockpicking / Pickpocket / Speech Mage: - Enchanting / Alteration / Restoration / Conjuration / Destruction / Illusion Keep in mind, that buying & selling Items will level Speech. ;)

[@MOOKI2001]

Not a member but i'm here love your wit and humour with the challenges keep up the awesome work willow ❤

[@WillowPlaysGames]

No obligation to be a member! the content is always free (barring livestream vods) and I'm just happy so many people enjoy the runs!

[@MOOKI2001]

Ngl i dont usually watch live streams but the few clips you have shown keen to join the fun soon ❤

[@PureCringe]

Tbh i personally like siding with the imperials. Really love getting to show the false high kink of skyrim whos boss 😂

[@mentalshatter]

37:28 4/4 39:49 3/6 41:49 3/6 44:15 1/5

[@WillowPlaysGames]

that last one was hard lol

[@bolech5221]

Cool whatever numbers

[@TheScarletInfector]

FYI you DO NOT have to do Brynyolf's quest to enter the ratway or the Flagon. You omly have to do it to join the theives guild.

[@patrickcole7896]

couple small tips: the slow time shout in Hag's End; whatever your build, it will help. Also, you don't have to do Brynjolf's theft mission to get into the ratway, you can get the mission then wait a few hours. the theft mission will fail, but he still lets you in the ratway.

[@kaiopietro]

I was watching this Willow guy, he complete lost his mind in the first 5 minutes, and you know what it was pretty good. I think i'll subscribe

[@wiltedroses19]

42:05 here we see a Rare sighting of the Elusive Unicorn Willow in the chaotic legendary wilds

[@mendelson6052]

I’ve done this years ago, it was a very satisfying experience. It’s like Ironman mode in RuneScape just in a much much smaller and more easily digestible experience.

[@Zep_Tonic]

Glad to see another new video you make amazing content keep it up

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Thanks! Will do!

[@SomeOne-vf1rs]

I’d argue that enchanting should be allowed, but it’s hard to fill gems without being able to use a soul trap spell (you’re on legendary, you’ll probably run out of charge on a soul trap weapon ages before the enemy dies). The previous games let you make spells, sad they didn’t bring that into this game.

[@WillowPlaysGames]

I did use enchanting in this run

[@SomeOne-vf1rs]

@@WillowPlaysGames ahh, thanks. My bad I haven’t finished the video, I will but I got distracted lol.

[@SomeOne-vf1rs]

Or if you use it early in the run I just wasn’t paying attention.

[@Malkontent1003]

Losing your mind in the first five minutes was hilarious, I approve.

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Glad it landed so well with so many people

[@Malkontent1003]

@@WillowPlaysGames Also, you and I are gonna go around about how you pronounced Amren. XD

[@stubenhockershr1161]

33:20 the lore states that the draugr are bound to the crypts in order to keep them Safe and offer their Soul Energy to the crypts Boss, be that draugr or Dragon priest, hence they only offer petty Souls when trapped

[@dante837]

This makes me want to try this challenge but not the whole legendary part because this looks really fun

[@jcjourneys4432]

Man, this is making me want to play Skyrim again! Thank for the awesome video as per usual!

[@luxx.44]

yoooo new willow upload :)

[@WillowPlaysGames]

hour of skyriiiim!

[@Spookylol123]

a willow video is apart of my nightly routine

[@timeshark8727]

This is basically how I play for the first like 15 levels... I always max out my crafting skills first. The only difficult part is making enough money to keep crafting while not really being able to beat any difficult enemies, and building up enough skill points to unlock all the crafting perks. Pretty quickly the drops are much worse than what you can make. By mid game you end up as an immortal juggernaut. Doesn't matter how weak your swordsmanship is when your legendary sword has 1000+ damage with lifesteal and paralysis and your armor resists all magic and every element, improves sneak by 400% and has armor rating measured in thousands. ... the enchanting/alchemy/smithing loop with restoration potions gets ridiculous real quick.

[@ferdburfle2370]

Tbh I love when a content creator goes off script sometimes it gives more sense of character like the viewer can connect better with the creator

[@mrmitigation8905]

Love the video Willow, keep up the good work

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Thank you! Will do!

[@jasonwood8800]

I’ve done this before. The trick is to equip a follower with your crafts so you don’t level up too quickly. Then in combat focus on supporting your follower using low damage high speed enchanted weapons like daggers and long bows. This basically turns you into a support mage with you “casting” using the enchanted weapons. Elven armour and wolf armour will be your best friends in this run as they are the lightest light and heavy armours respectively meaning you can carry a few different enchanted sets of them to cover different scenarios. For smithing if I don’t need any equipment then I buy the highest level ingots that I can use for arrow crafting to level the skill. For enchanting I enchant long bows and daggers for general use but I always have shop bought equipment with higher level enchantments on hand for tougher enemies. For alchemy, in the early game I just use it to make money and buy crafting materials and more powerful shop bought potions. Once I get my crafting skills high enough I create some skill levelling gear. 100% alteration reduction is good early on to get you the dragon skin spell for max damage reduction which you can then use to efficiently level up your armour skills or you can just create a fortify armour skill armour set and tank blows to level up that way. For weapon skills, make the highest base damage but don’t improve them. Weapon skills level based on highest damage instead of actual damage. For block on legendary difficulty the easiest way is probably to shield bash a lone enemy to level up but you can also try taking hits from enemies while blocking too. I’d also get destruction to level 60 to get the perks for fire frost and shock damage and then your set to make a pretty badass endgame set of gear for you, your follower, your dead thrall (there’s a staff you can get if you don’t want to level conjugation) and your followers dead thrall (give them the staff). That way you’ll have a team of 4/5 “crafted” team members. Btw give your follower/thralls equipment with 100% magic/poison resistance as they don’t have a resistance cap so with enchantments they are completely immune to magic. Then keep some weakness to poison/magic/element, fortify destruction scrolls/potions (the scrolls are a random reward for the repeatable shallidors insights quest) and damage health/lingering damage health poisons. With all that, legendary difficulty becomes a cake walk 😂

[@datonedumbasian4919]

33:30 i'd wager the door was to keep unauthorized people from learning the thuum and that the draugars are people from ancient time trying to keep intruders out of their treasure.

[@angele8752]

Jsut so you know, the chat abt losing your mind in the first five minutes is what made me subscribe just to spite you. Embrace insanity

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Lmao

[@lilrasta3683]

Useful tip use ancient knowledge a quest reward for helping return the lexicon to a dwarves ruin for an argoinuon in rotten it increases the rate you increase smithing and increases armor resistance with dwarves armor

[@Malkontent1003]

Fun fact: due to a bug, it actually increases armor rating with all heavy armor EXCEPT Dwarven. Just saying.

[@lilrasta3683]

@@Malkontent1003 fr? I never knew that thanks for that tip actually

[@BigHatLoganGaming]

if anyone ever wants to use tools on a craft-only run, throw away the materials for an iron war axe, as the two usable tool items share the weapon category.

[@dima_keller]

I still haven't played with one-handed + shield in this game even once and I'm afraid I'll be installing Skyrim again soon 😅

[@Trazyn_the_infinite-x5j]

I like going with hadvar since his uncle runs the forge and can get you 5 each of steel and iron which is helpful if you like crafting or are doing something like this

[@YT-Rouge]

i maxed out my falkreath land but yet his house is yet better than mine

[@Italianmanmamamia]

I get a smile on my face every time I hear your intro

[@aideeamei]

Gian levitating clubs, the end times are upon us :D

[@weixingyang898]

Found your channel while looking for tips on legendary difficulty in survival mode. Anyway, may be try a pure warrior run. You can still sneak and picklock, but you can only learn skills in warrior tree... no enchanting, no casting magic and no making potions.

[@WillowPlaysGames]

I'll add it to the list, as far as tips go I'd say survival is manageable, just focus on getting a lot of good food and make sure to make camping supplies as camps are the best way to combat cold for long periods of time. other than that I'd say legendary difficulty is only if you want to suffer, combat will be a struggle unless you are going stealth archer or some other broken build or using glitches to make the game trivial. there's no shame in playing on a lower difficulty when the game's difficulties are made so poorly like is with the case with skyrim

[@Abridale]

Always a good day when willow posts

[@Sadreath]

Kinda glad you did not use the Atronach forge though my reason is that it makes the early game pretty easy compared to not using it. Getting a staff to summon atronachs at like level 3 is busted.

[@ihax4uv179]

already know this gonna be a good one

[@marcmitchell2288]

The doors are supposed to keep the most powerful one contained, the ones you fight are the guardians of the tomb, made to keep you out and away from the boss, they sleep until someone enters and then kill any living thing they come across, they should have programmed it that the final dragur is an enemy of everything and doesn't team up with other dragur.

[@WillowPlaysGames]

this doesn't make sense to me still, think about it from the person building these tombs, they are aware that people turn into draugr. why put the high tech lock on the final chamber instead of the front door. wouldn't you be worried about draugr wandering out to your nearby village where your kids are? it seems poorly thought out.

[@CertifiedGerman]

He sounded like old man mcgukket when he was talking about the end times

[@darkcircle899]

A legendary survival iron man run is good stuff. I’m excited to see what it has in store. Edit1: I’m surprised he thinks the Atronach Forge isn’t worth it. I would have used it for a staff of storm atronach asap it’s so strong early on and can carry you in combat until you get good weapons. Plus it’s super good for taking agro when dealing with multiple enemies because taking increased damage doesn’t apply to summons. It probably would have made those early fights a lot less frustrating and resource intensive.

[@svartrbrisingr6141]

i did something similar before. it wasnt a challenge run or on legendary. but i did my normal thing of rolling 5 major stats and 5 minor stats to play a random character. and Smithing, Heavy Armor, Two handed, Stealth, and Lockpicking were my major skills. I had full legendary quality Dragonbone armor and weapons by level 23 by just hard focusing on smithing. which made the rest of the game easy until i died of gravity as i was doing permadeath. I shall always miss Bago Dong the High Elven smith.

[@dr.bright3081]

Yooooo Willow got featured on Cribs! Next it’ll be “Pimp My Wagon”! Looking forward to it!

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Lol

[@P41ma1]

I remember playing the mode. Saw that a simple mudcrab can clap my cheeks, immediately knew the mode was gonna take a lot of patience.

[@EvanBear]

The horses are the true MVPs of this run!

[@Thomas-oe4io]

Get the spell tome transmute mineral ore just north of whitrun. Lets you turn iron ore into gold. Then craft a bunch of rings and XP for for a profit. 2 iron ore turns into 2 gold rings. Infinite money if you just buy the iron ore or clear iron mines.

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Magic was effectively banned this run as I couldn't craft the books to learn the spells

[@webley_mark]

We didn't pick the Stealth Archer Build because it's fun, we picked it because it's broken - and easy to start it in early legendary too

[@fredevenden]

This is my first time watching your vids and I like you content

[@WillowPlaysGames]

glad you enjoyed!

[@renz.o.o3577]

33:30 I think that's door is for not steeling from coffin like a pyramid

[@PastelDeKetchup]

I could never miss this video. I changed my nickname, it was Sotnas Sod Amil Oguh Rotiv.

[@Gus_95]

For more Willow off script. I spilled my coffee laughing lmaoo 😂💙

[@WillowPlaysGames]

my favorite moments is when the joke happens naturally!

[@Gus_95]

@@WillowPlaysGamesyou're awesome bro fr Found your channel a week or so ago and am pretty much caught up with everything cuz is just THAT good

[@sorakitsune4462]

If you ever want to do redo this challenge, go to Rifton's Docks, and do the quest for From-Deepest-Fathoms

[@genxmonk70]

6:04 where in TN? I grew up in Washington County

[@WillowPlaysGames]

grew up in cheatham and williamson county, currently live in davidson. johnson city is in washington isn't it? nice town.

[@genxmonk70]

@@WillowPlaysGames yep, JC is where my folks still live. It's a pretty town, but that southern small town thing just doesn't gel with me these last few decades 😁

[@WillowPlaysGames]

well there's always Nashville or Chattanooga if you want the fast paced big city... would also say Memphis but wouldn't wish that on anyone with how it is every time I go there.

[@genxmonk70]

@@WillowPlaysGames I moved to Lexington, KY 30odd years ago. It's a nice enough city :)

[@phantomfoxy2156]

You should allow a mod called craftable lockpicks

[@troke7120]

Mans turns into Borat.. it’s okay willow we all become Borat from time to time.

[@MantaelGraves]

Another great upload from willow when my night is sh... Becuase my stomach hurt like hell thanks mate 😊❤❤

[@WillowPlaysGames]

I used to have bad stomach pains, found drinking more water helped a lot

[@MantaelGraves]

​@@WillowPlaysGames Keep the good job i can actually tryb wheat and blues mountain flowers too :)

[@XSilver_WaterX]

While not an exploit; having poisons to add to your favorite tab helps on your currently equipped weapon. it instant applies without the message and using slow, stamina-dmg and weaken-stamina are STUPIDLY powerful! Say Willow, have you tried playing Enderal and other Steam-Mod games?

[@YoloSwaggins100]

nice content bro keep it up :)

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Thanks, will do!

[@antonioshade8315]

in terms of the whole, “locking up the last room when the rest of the dragur can walk out” part, at higher levels the dungeon bosses sometimes just end up being dragon priests i wont lie it makes more sense to just lock up the entire dungeon, but i dunno maybe they wanted to visit their grandma or something while keeping their racist uncle locked up in the no no chamber

[@Sithis211]

Hey willow, i know you probably won't ever read this or notice it. But on the off chance you do. Keep up the amazing work and videos, idk about anyone else but they help take my mind off stuff. Thank you for all the hard work it is not unnoticed.

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Noticed :P thanks for the kind comment

[@alexlambert2979]

What are the ingredients he uses to make the potions? I got tundra cotton and nirnroot but i didnt see the health and paralysis potion ingredients

[@WillowPlaysGames]

imp stool & Canis root are the easiest way to make para poison, I don't remember what I did for health potions.

[@alexlambert2979]

@WillowPlaysGames I found the health thank you for the paralysis potions

[@rogofos]

with berserker ability of the orks you essentially lower the difficulty to something in-between master and expert

[@Ancusohm]

Oh, cool! It's the final video. I though you were just livestreaming more of your progress on this challenge.

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Yeah, it done! No more crafting struggles!

[@james_edits12]

ive been subscribed to you for ages and i just realised you only have 47k followers wtf! i thought you had hundreds of thousands

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Lol

[@james_edits12]

@@WillowPlaysGames wow thanks for responding

[@jessewallis6589]

I pretty much always exploit crafting to make one-hit kill gear…especially on Legendary difficulty. I get bored with the amount of damage even minor enemies can soak up.

[@Candy_Revenge]

love these vids

[@maverickahhh]

Love to see a mount and blade 2 challenge run, or just a play through amazing vid❤

[@micmacpaddiewack2279]

I always thought the claw doors kept the big bad or important draugr inside away from the rest

[@alexlambert2979]

Atronoch forge. Just because you told me not to

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Damnit!

[@ColeOutcast]

Funnily enough i HAVE heard of beating bleak falls with far too good of gear. My first time playing Skyrim i didnt do the quest and forgot about it until i had already finished all the other guilds and got the Civil War as progressed as i could without it. I didnt know how to get Dragons into the game and was frustrated that my level 67 Deadric Armored lady couldnt kill any dragons...until google told me that its that one quest lost in my journal i need to finish. Whoops 😅

[@Theresalwaysanexit]

He said no magic but only brought up the atronach forge but I think the best magic for this build would transmute, right?

[@quartz97]

Legendary difficulty is something I don't think I will ever actually play. Master is tough, but you can actually play it pretty easily with enough experience. Legendary just never feels worth it.

[@yarro1965]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's read his name as Armen....It's /Am/ren but I think I'm just gonna ignore that.....

[@bboollll]

on my suggestion for idea posted last vid, tutorial items ofc ok. i.e oblivion magic and them "giving"you bow n blade etc. but outside tutorial they cant be used. like with space battle in starfield.tutorial or forced battle tools are ok but beside that only given/reward/offered tools n gear

[@NeroSaja]

I can help you whit that painful meteorshout from Alduin: just use the clear sky shout after he started the shower and it is gone for good. 😅

[@Malkontent1003]

Willow literally mentioned that, but that they didn't want to do it.

[@peterbates5756]

I did this challenge a few times now, while also not buying ingots or anything, lol.

[@martingodoy5698]

Love the videos

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Love the comments!

[@leor.sanders5852]

By the laws of Skyrim ulfric isn't the false high king he is actually high king, by winning in a challenge that was accepted by the former high king he took claim to the throne

[@WillowPlaysGames]

I know the lore, I was pulling fun at him

[@leor.sanders5852]

@@WillowPlaysGames gotcha, I know a lotta people miss out on that little bit of information because they don't actually make it too clear

[@Triaxx2]

So uh... congratulations, you don't actually need to do Brynjolf's quest to get to Esbern. Ratway's not locked, and the area behind the bar where he's at isn't tied to the thieves guild.

[@Smirving]

You became walter white of Skyrim xD

[@laynebonham3968]

Would you say this is a worthwhile challenge for someone not as good at the game? Albeit on a lower difficulty?

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Yes, of you're playing on a lower difficulty this challenge is probably down right fun

[@laynebonham3968]

I may do this in my next playthrough then!

[@laynebonham3968]

​@@WillowPlaysGamessidenote, your content always makes my day better after a long day in class. I hope you continue to make content. You've definitely inspired me to play games a different way than I'm used to. If it means anything, you'll always have my support, even if I'm just a random dude on the internet 👍

[@dima_keller]

37:28 3/4 39:49 4/6 41:49 2/6 44:15 3/5 In my defence I'm watching on a phone 😅

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Better than I'd of done on a TV lol

[@vectred7959]

The backpack mod adds carry weight, making it more than a visual mod :p

[@WillowPlaysGames]

the backpack mod is part of the anniversary edition of the game, it was included with the game from the developer, meaning it's free game for me.

[@braindeadlogistics]

My guy said “icky” 😂

[@WillowPlaysGames]

icky

[@Fatpackz]

Early morning willow video? Say less

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Early morning willow

[@IMiss2018Jovic]

great vid 🫡

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Thanks!

[@Bluey610]

@6:28 i thought he said Swamp Funko Pops 😭

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Lol

[@jessedavis8705]

Quality of video vs number of subscribers is criminal

[@WillowPlaysGames]

well, I only started these videos a little over a year ago, so 55k in a year is huge imo :D

[@TheMissileWizard]

Can't wait for fallout 4 Only stealing

[@denizkaancengiz3971]

Hello again Willow! I really love when h make videos and it makes my day❤. And I hope u blow up Willow 😊.

[@denizkaancengiz3971]

I mean with popularity. Not like blow up with an bomb

[@WillowPlaysGames]

Thanks for the kind comment and the chuckle at the bomb thing!