Skyrim modders overhaul the ebony warrior to be a challenge worth besting

While fighting Alduin is generally accepted to be the most memorable boss battle that Skyrim’s Dragonborn faces, the game does have one more baddie to tackle when the dust has settled.

When you’ve had your fill of casting spells on chickens, being hunted down by couriers, or roleplaying as the world’s worst alchemist and reached level 80, the ebony warrior will appear to challenge you to one final fight to the death.

Thankfully for those who find the vanilla version of this encounter not to live up to the hype it generates, a new mod is aiming to do Skyrim’s ultimate challenge justice.

Are you eager to take on a more fearsome version of the ebony warrior?

The mod in question is called ‘Ryn's Snazzy Last Vigil - An Ebony Warrior Overhaul’ and is the work of modders Ryn and Gutmaw, the former of whom has already produced a litany of other overhauls to vanilla Skyrim locations like Saarthal and Bleak Falls Barrow.

This time, they’ve teamed up with Gutmaw to give the ebony warrior, whom they claim to be a “fantastic concept” in need of expansion, a bit of an overhaul and an intimidating new mountainside abode to chill out in while he waits for you to finish up all of your hijinks.

Said hideout is a gothically styled house dubbed ‘The Ebony Keep’, which both provides a very atmospheric battle backdrop and, as a player home equipped with an ebony mine and filled with newly generated info on just who Skyrim’s darkly-dressed combatant is, serves as a pretty great reward for those who beat him.

That said, doing so will be a little bit more difficult than you might remember, with the mod also giving the warrior a fresh loadout of unique weapons and armour in the form of a speedy scimitar and retextured ebony plate that are superior to the vanilla game’s Daedric gear.

Also on the list of improvements are some changes to the talents of the man wielding those implements, with the warrior gaining some buffed stats, quicker reactions and a new frost cloak spell that’ll give your character the chills no matter what their resistances are.

While these are the main revisions currently made by the mod, Ryn and Gutmaw do say that they’ve got a number of ideas for future expansions to it, including adding to the questline around the warrior itself, so stay tuned if that sounds exciting.

Regardless of whether you’re now in the midst of a training montage to prepare for a showdown with the rejuvenated warrior, make sure to follow us for more updates on The Elder Scrolls 6 and the wacky world of Skyrim modding.