Skyrim Speedrunner Reaches Level 80 and Kills Ebony Warrior in Less Than 12 Minutes

ign.com:

An Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim speedrunner has reached level 80 and killed the infamous Ebony Warrior in under 12 minutes, setting a new world record in the process.

As reported by GamesRadar, YouTuber nucular uploaded a video of the complex but efficient speedrun and their defeat of the legendary Ebony Warrior, an enemy which only appears at Level 80. Reaching this high a level would usually take several hundred hours of normal gameplay, or several dozen of dedicated grinding, but nucular's method takes advantage of a few exploits to reach it in once thought impossible speeds.

Their final time of 11 minutes and 47 seconds comes in a few minutes faster than the previous world record, which was set at 14 minutes and 27 seconds in 2021 by YouTuber Waz. Nucular used a similar method of hastily uploading their Alchemy, Speech, and Enchanting skills to flood experience into their overall level, but added Heavy Armor and Block too to shoot to Level 80.

This prompted the Ebony Warrior to appear and, in just one swift swing of an axe, the legendary enemy was vanquished. But nucular's confident they can achieve the feat even quicker, saying on Reddit it can be accomplished in under 10 minutes using this method and that they'll keep pushing it lower.

With The Elder Scrolls 6 still five years away at least, fans have had to find their own ways, like this, to keep the ageing Skyrim entertaining. Another player recently accrued a 267,000 gold bounty murdering 5,000 NPCs in a quest to kill "everything that was killable", for example, while one fan recreated the game in Age of Empires 2.

Waves of sentimental fans recently booted up their old Xbox 360s and PlayStation 3s to "retire" their original characters too, showing how much Skyrim has remained in player consciousness over its 12 years of being available.

In our 9/10 review of the beloved role playing game, IGN said: "Skyrim is a rare kind of intensely personal, deeply rewarding experience, and one of the best role-playing games yet