Introduction to Wildlander

One of the most common questions I get asked is “how difficult is Wildlander”

For new players I say this Wildlander is intended to be a challenging experience, with several new mechanics which cannot be turned off or bypassed (low quality bows breaking for example). For completely new players who have never played a requiem based list before I say this.

Imagine you, having just finished high school are magically picked up and dropped into skyrim. You find at your feet a weapon, maybe some armor, a potion and a day’s supply of food - that’s how you start wildlander. You don’t have a clue how to use the weapon, wear the armor, cast a spell, mix a potion or even something as simple as making a fire. You need to learn how to do everything. Waving a sword around at a wolf like a madman is only going to give you a sore arm and the wolf some lunch.

So the basic “rules”

• Don’t try tackle content you are not skilled enough to tackle
• Your ability to kill Endgame bosses depend a lot on your build. Some can be killed very early with the good build and tactics. But for a first play through, you will need to be around 30 to 40 in order to kill them without cheesing your way. Solstheim content - no - for that you need to be well-prepared
• If you die too much…. come back later, you’re not ready, that’s all.
• The better geared the enemy - the more likely he or she is to kill you - as they will have perks just like you.
• Creatures which look dangerous are dangerous - see a sabercat charging at you, you’re probably too close to survive.

Make preparations

• Look around the area you are in - is there high ground you can get to, to see further
• Use all your senses - Hear a wolf - he won’t be alone.
• Have appropriate potion, poison, ammunition, stew, etc
• Plan an escape route.
• Use Survival vision - it can highlight enemies hiding in high grass

First step before trying any dungeon…. killing mudcrab and wolf pack without getting killed (no joke).

Survival

Wildlander contains mods which require you to eat, drink and keep warm. Failing to do so will result in negative active effects and eventually death.

Skills / Perks

Without skills and perks in a tree, they are useless - you cannot expect to start the game in clothing and switch to heavy armor without training in the skill - you will be penalized for doing so. No perk = no stamina = No move. It’s best to decide before starting what type of character you want to make.

Hunting

Wildlander integrates hunterborn into the base build which - with hunting knives - allows you to skin, butcher, and gather useful materiels from animal corpses. One of your first purchases should be a basic hunting knife, which will automatically be used from your inventory when you click on a corpse - no need to equip.

Stat Management

One of the most important things for your new character is how to manage stamina. With no stamina, you can’t run, and in some cases can’t even move. With no stamina, enemies can disarm you. Having a stew active which gives passive stamina regeneration and potions are a must.

You also no longer have passive health regeneration, so having some form of healing is required - whether that be via Potions, poultices or spells.

Weapon Choice

Choosing the right weapon for the right enemy is So, So important, as each enemy in the game has different strengths and weaknesses. Heavy armored opponents will take less damage from a sword as they would from a mace. Undead take minimum damage from conventional weapons, but are highly allergic to silver as it disrupts the spells animating them.

One of the most important tip I can give archer type players - is that wooden bows break when you get hit by a melee attack. Make sure you have backup weapons you can switch to or invest in a better quality bow.

Armor choice

The choice of armor is just as important

Clothing would be the armor of choice for Spell casters, Whereas Heavy would be for the Warrior types.

Enemies

All the encounters/creatures in Wildlander have a fixed level rather than scaling to the player. Leveling up your character does not make your enemies stronger (just you).

A specific example would be Embershard Mine Near Riverwood - regardless of what level you enter - the bandits inside will all be the same level, which similar gear selected from a bucket. You are likely to encounter bandits carrying iron or steel melee weapons and wooden bows.

With a small amount of weapons skill, armor skill or magic skill - Easily do-able at low levels.

In comparison - Valheim towers near Whiterun, while containing the (generally) same levels of bandits - also contains greater numbers and also contains a higher level bandit boss which always carries steel armor and a steel battle staff - not so easy to do at lower levels.

Religion and Blessings

Detailed information: here

Your crime record affects your ability to use shrines. Too much crime and you are locked out permanently from taking blessings, and only with a perk will you be able to use them to cure disease.

Crime is defined as :- Having a current bounty, being part of the “naughty” guilds, murder, excessive theft, or a large lifetime bounty.

Crafting

Detailed information: here

Crafting has had a item called toolkits implements. you need a appropriate toolkit to craft anything other than the most basic of items.

Prior to the introduction of toolkits - scrolling rapidly though the extremely large crafting menu caused crashes to desktop - This still occurs if you are asking a blacksmith to craft items to you - so I recommend using the filter in top right of the window rather than scrolling to find specific items you want to make.

In addition Wildlander includes a new type of crafting called breakdown( using the ? key) which allows you to break down items into the components it was made from. For example armor into metal fragments, bones and teeth into bone fragments and wooden items into kindling for starting fires.

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