This is a series of blog posts about playing Skyrim on Master, the highest difficulty setting. At this level the only thing that changes is damage: player characters deal only half of it while receiving double the usual amount.
I have to admit that after defeating the dragon I was at a loss as to what to do next. I knew that the next logical step was to head to High Hrothgar to answer the summons of the Greybeards. Getting level 3 Unrelenting Force would be a great addition to my arsenal, especially considering that I needed all the help I can get. But doing that felt tedious. The trek up the mountain, the inevitable ice troll encounter and all the dialogue I’d have to sit through again sounded a bit too much.
These were my thoughts as I made my way back to Whiterun. A quick glance of the compass showed that I was near a giant camp. Hey, why not? I thought. I snuck my way to the camp, took out my bow, aimed at a giant standing next to a tree and fired. As usual, the damage I did was miniscule. He turned and lumbered his way to me.
What I didn’t notice was that it had a friend behind the tree. When I saw two giants headed my way I did what anyone at my level would do—I ran for the hills. I’d dealt with giants at low level before and knew that terrain was my friend. What I hadn’t factored in was the fact that my target would have someone with him. Given that I was fighting two giants, my question to find out how they were like on Master difficulty turned out to be doubly challenging.
I fired two more shots then switched to my spellcasting gear to get better magicka regeneration. I set Flames as my default attack and started the tedious grind to get their health down. It was a slow, agonizing process that alternated between attacking and trying to keep myself alive. I shot fire from my hands while running and jumping, making sure that there was always an incline between me and my two friends. Brelyna did her best, but sometimes one of the big brutes would attack her and that meant she’d be incapacitated for a while. She became more useful when we managed to get one of the giants down. I kept the attention of the remaining target so her damage contribution became greater.
So in the end I downed a dragon and two giants before I even got to High Hrothgar. Not a bad day, I thought, but I still wondered how the next dragon fight would be like.