How To Defeat The Ebony Warrior In Skyrim?

You’ve reached Skyrim’s peak. You’ve slain Alduin, taken down Lord Harkon, and even surpassed Miraak, the first Dragonborn himself.

Then, that man in black armor showed up and challenged you to a duel. And by Talos, he’s one of the toughest you’ve ever faced.

With a bit of help, victory’s still within your grasp. Let’s break down the Ebony Warrior’s abilities and help you with the tactics needed to send him off to Sovngarde. Triumph, and you’ll be well-rewarded with your enemy’s equipment.

Encountering the Ebony Warrior

The Ebony Warrior only confronts you after you’ve reached Level 80. Once you have, visit one of Skyrim‘s five “major” cities:

• Whiterun
• Windhelm
• Solitude
• Markarth
• Riften

While running your errands, the Ebony Warrior spawns and challenges you to duel him at Last Vigil. This is his campsite in the mountains northeast of Riften.

Your epic confrontation’s battleground is marked on your map, and the quest “The Ebony Warrior” is added to your journal. This quest is refreshingly simple— no puzzles or dungeons necessary—as you only need to travel to Last Vigil for the fight.

The Ebony Warrior’s Abilities

The Ebony Warrior has good reason to wait until you’ve cleared the rest of Skyrim and the game’s DLCs. Armed with top-tier gear and immunity to basically all of Skyrim’s debuffs, this warrior is crushingly tough.

Oh, and he’s also a Dragonborn. So be ready to get knocked flying by Unrelenting Force .

This badass Redguard is ready to heal through the pain, steal your summoned allies, and rip the weapons out of your hand. Melee combat is a tough sell, too since his Ebony Sword of the Vampire refills his health each time he depletes yours.

Initiating the fight with the Ebony Warrior from afar isn’t much easier. Arrows fired from his Ebony Bow of Winter will slow you down, making it difficult to carve down this boss’s health by skirmishing. This allows him to force you into melee, where he’s much more dangerous.

In addition, the Ebony Warrior’s skills and perks rival your own. Be especially watchful for:

• Reflect Blows: 10% chance melee damage is reflected into your face.
• Paralyzing Strike: 25% chance of paralysis on power attacks.
• Critical Charge: Huge damage when sprinting up to stab you.

On the defensive side, the Ebony Warrior’s Magic Resistance and Elemental Protection perks, combined with his enchanted gear, make him highly resistant to elemental spell damage.

That doesn’t include the Ebony Warrior’s total immunity to effects like Paralysis, Vampiric Grip, or the Disarm shout. You can’t even turn him into a chicken with the Wabbajack.

Send The Ebony Warrior Back To Sovngarde

Right in the kidneys.

So how in the world do you vanquish this guy?

It’s possible to beat the Ebony Warrior with any build, but that doesn’t mean each build is equally easy. In particular, the Ebony Warrior’s most troublesome perk is Reflect Blows. This perk for people with Heavy Armor 100 gives him a 10% chance to throw damage back into your face.

Stealth Strategies

Despite all his resistance and powers, the Ebony Warrior always waits for you to start the fight. I find honor in a death match is a bit silly, so you had better take advantage of it.

Exploit the Ebony Warrior’s patience by stabbing him in the back. His lack of special abilities to notice stealthy players or to prevent sneak attacks is your strongest tactical advantage.

Backstabbing will be most effective if you’re playing the classic “stealth assassin” build with the Sneak skill’s Backstab and Assassin’s Blade perks. Without them, a sneak attack is still a solid way to start the battle, but it won’t be a game-changer.

If you’re using Assassin’s Blade, make sure you save nearby. This perk’s ×15 damage multiplier is AWESOME, but Reflect Blows can kill you post-mortem even if you one-shot the Ebony Warrior.

If you’ve reached Sneak 100 and taken the Shadow Warrior perk, repeatedly crouching to enter Sneak is a good tactic. It’s basically the only way to fight the Ebony Warrior while avoiding close combat.

Disengage repeatedly to fire sneak attack arrows with the Deadly Aim perk. This strategy takes a while due to the Ebony Warrior’s Close Wounds spell and his 5 Potions of Vigorous Healing, but if you’re patient, he’ll topple.

Close Combat Strategies

If you insist on going toe-to-toe with the Ebony Warrior, be sure you’re stocked up on healing potions. Since there isn’t a noticeable crack in his armor to exploit, this fight becomes about endurance instead.

Fortunately, by the end of Skyrim you’ve almost certainly acquired a hoard of goodies to expend. There is no need to preserve them for future fights; just bring along all your favorite consumables and be prepared to use them.

While this effect can’t really be avoided, you can reduce its impact on the fight. Avoid power attacks and focus on quick single attacks while dodging or blocking with a shield. Reflect Blows can still trigger, but you won’t accidentally one-shot yourself after a power attack.

Using Alchemy

Already use your stockpile? Better get crafting.

Even if you’re not a master, using Alchemy to craft some poisons helps whittle down this boss’s health. As a Redguard, the Ebony Warrior has Poison Resistance 50%, but this is not buffed by his perks or gear.

While not exactly a vulnerability, applying poison to your melee weapons will cut down the time you’re forced to tank his blows. Plus, Reflect Blows don’t turn back poison damage.

Most debuffs applied by poison (like Paralyze) won’t work, but Damage Health will chip him down. Better yet, Ravage Health reduces his maximum health. Can’t heal that!

Not all ingredients are equal, so make sure you’re using the best options available.

If you’ve preserved the one-of-a-kind Jarrin Root from the Dark Brotherhood quest To Kill An Empire, you can use it to create a Poison of Damage Health 100 times stronger than any other in the game.

Magical Strategies

Due to the Ebony Warrior’s elemental resistances, taking him down with magic damage is a big ask. Bring along a follower to keep him busy in melee while your magic slugs away at his Health bar.

If you’re reliant upon Destruction, look for spells that add additional effects. For example, Chain Lightning staggers foes and helps you avoid the Ebony Warrior’s attacks.

Whatever you do, don’t summon Daedra against the Ebony Warrior. He’ll just cast Command Daedra and turn them against you instead. To distract this boss, I suggest using non-Daedric Conjuration spells like Dead Thrall and Conjure Dragon Priest.

Finally, the Ash Rune spell doesn’t deal elemental damage, allowing you to explode the Ebony Warrior successfully. He won’t be affected by the spell’s paralysis effect, but at least you’ll avoid most of his resistances.

The Ebony Warrior’s Loot

Conquering this ultimate challenger rewards you with everything on his battered body. Good news is, that’s a pretty tidy haul.

No wonder elemental spells do basically nothing! The Ebony Warrior’s gear substantially boosts his elemental resistances.

While the Ebony Warrior’s weapons are good, by this point in the game, you’re probably wielding an artifact or three which outclass them. Perhaps you even forged them yourself?

This is where you’ll find the most helpful and valuable loot. Potions and soul gems are always handy, but the Ring of Peerless Wielding offers a bonus to one-handed weapon damage, which is difficult to match if you don’t invest perks into the enchanting skill.

The Ebony Warrior’s three items enchanted with Elemental Suppression are, admittedly, so-so. Instead of going piecemeal, wear all three together to get hefty resistance to three of the most common damage types in the game.