Valhalla Combat Mod

Valhalla Combat

Valhalla Combat is a modular, consistent, and script-free combat overhaul designed with modern principles in mind. Heavily inspired by modern action games such as AC:Valhalla, God of War, and Elden Ring, Valhalla Combat will fundamentally change the feeling of Skyrim's combat both in 1st and 3rd person, rendering an enjoyable and integrated experience:

1. Non-intrusive stamina system that fits Skyrim's level design
2. Script-free timed blocking/projectile parry
3. Stun and execution similar to AC:Valhalla and God of War
4. (Planned)Enemy AI tweaks
5. (Planned)Perk mod integration
6. (Planned)An intuitive reaction/poise system

Features

Weightless

Valhalla Combat is implemented through SKSE. It's neither "heavy weight" nor "light weight"; it has no weight. Every single feature runs as if they're a part of the vanilla combat gameplay loop, with 0 script lag and 0 workaround often seen in most combat overhauls due to creation kit's limitation.

Configurability

All the following features are highly modular. While it is strongly adviced to keep all featuers on for an integral experience, you have the freedom to tweak specific settings, as well as disabling entire sub modules.

Every single feature is tweakable&togglable.

Stamina Edits

Valhalla Combat gears vanilla Skyrim's stamina mechanic to be on par with modern action games. Stamina will factor into your combat gameplay in a balanced and integrated way(but not in a Dark-Souls way, which I personally believe does not play well with Skyrim's level design)

1. Stamina regenerates 5x faster for all races by default.
2. Combat actions cost stamina. The details are specified in the following sections.

Attack Stamina

1. Light attacks that hit the enemy regenerates stamina.
2. Light attacks that miss the enemy costs stamina.
3. Heavy attack stamina formula remains unchanged.
4. The logic behind:
5. Spoiler:
6. Show
7. 
   

Successful light swings don't consume stamina and instead,

regenerates stamina.

Exhaustion

1. Once a combat action depletes stamina, the actor enters a state of exhaustion.
2. The exhaustion state works differently for player and NPCs.
3. For player: You deal half as much damage for both light and power attacks.
4. For NPCs: NPCs simply cannot attack.
5. Exhaustion goes away once stamina regenerates fully.
6. The logic behind:
7. Spoiler:
8. Show
9. 
   

Stamina is consumed upon each missed light attack as well as any heavy attacks

When stamina depletes, the stamina meter

greys out and glows constantly to signify the state of exhaustion.

During exhaustion, you deal half as much damage,

such that doing power attacks is not worth it.

Exhaustion recovers as soon as your stamina regenerates to full.

Block Stamina

1. The stamina blocking module is essentially an updated version of Shield Of Stamina . You do not need to have that mod on anymore.
2. While blocking, stamina regenerates at a reduced rate.
3. When the blocker has less than enough stamina to block an incoming attack:
4. The remaining stamina can still block some damage, but the unblocked damage goes to health.
5. The blocker gets staggered.

Blocking

Script-free, clean implementation of timed block and projectile deflection to completely overhaul the feeling of blocking.

1. Timed Block: Once you raise your shield/weapon, if you manage to block an attack/projectile within 0.3 seconds(by default), the block counts as a timed block.
2. Timed Block Penalty: Failing to perform a timed block will add one layer of timed block window penalty, which reduces your next timed blocking window. Penalties can stack if you repetitively fail to perform timed block in a short period of time. Once you stop blocking, for every 0.5 seconds, one level of penalty gets removed. Performing one successful timed block resets all penalties. This system is similar to Sekiro:Shadows Die Twice .
3. Projectile Blocking: Projectiles(arrows&spells) can be blocked using magicka.
4. Block Commitment: Player has a subtle block commitment: tapping the block once will not lead to a quick player jitter, but a consistent blocking posture for at least 0.3 sec(by default) before the player unblocks.

Melee Block

1. Timed block negates all incoming physical and enchanting damage.
2. Timed block deals stun damage to the attacker.
3. Performing a timed block within 0.15 seconds(by default) leads to a "perfect block", which instantly staggers the enemy and regenerates your stamina to full.

Perfect Block, a special form of timed block,

regenerates all stamina and instantly staggers the attacker

Projectile Block&Deflection

1. Projectiles can be blocked.
2. Blocking projectile costs magicka, which depends on the damage&magnitude of the incoming projectile.
3. You cannot block projectile with less than enough magicka.
4. Timed blocking a projectile has no magicka requirements. Meaning any timed blocked projectile will be successfully blocked.
5. If you have enough magicka when performing a timed projectile block, instead of destroying the projectile right away, the timed block deflects the projectile back to its sender.

Blocking projectile requires magicka.

My character failed to block the 2nd projectile due to not having enough magicka.

Deflect the projectile on timed blocking

Stun&Execution

A stun system similar to God of War and AC:Valhalla. Execute NPCs with depleted stun.

Stun Meter

1. Every actor has their a separate stun value, based on their health and stamina.
2. With TrueHud installed, Actor's stun value will be displayed on the yellow gauge on top of their health bar.

1. Every offensive action can damage stun: attacking, perfect blocking, bashing, etc..
2. Stun does not regenerate during combat and will slowly regenerate to full when out of combat.
3. Actors with depleted stun will enter a vulnerable state and can be executed.

As the NPC gets hit, the yellow meter on top of its trueHUD widget keeps decreasing,

until it reaches 0, where the NPC gets executed.

Execution

1. Upon stun value depletion, NPCs enter an executable state, which is indicated by their red flashing health meter.
2. To perform an execution, press the execution key near a stunned NPC. Alternatively, enable "execution on hit" option in MCM to execute NPCs automatically on melee hit.

All vanilla execution animations have been repurposed as Valhalla Combat executions.

Some of them you may haven't even seen

Execution works with mods that adds custom races, with custom

compatibility config files.

Future Plans

Technically, Valhalla Combat is not feature complete yet.

The above 3 features make combat a million times more fun. However they do not form a comprehensive combat system which is my ultimate aim.

In the future, I'll either update the following features to Valhalla Combat or put them in separate mods that coordinates with Valhalla Combat to further improve the integrity of this system:

1. A poise system similar to AC games that makes hitting enemies impactful and plays well with Skyrim's level and enemy design.
2. Integration for perk overhauls that allows the player to unlock some unique abilities with perks.
3. A simple, togglable combo system that encourages alteration of light and power attacks.

Track this mod if you want to get informed for updates. I'll also be posting updates in a more frequent basis on some *unspeakable* website.

Compatibility

Hard Incompatibilities

You cannot use the following together with Valhalla Combat whatsoever.

1. Shield of Stamina (Valhalla Combat already includes it)

Mods To Watch Out For

You can use those mods with Valhalla Combat. You game will not crash and you may not encounter any glitches, but remember to tweak the settings & get rid of overlapping features. Otherwise, you may face consistency issues.

1. Any mod that implements its own stamina system. You only need one stamina system! so either disable Valhalla's or don't use theirs.
2. Regen Adjustor
3. Fenix Stamina Overhaul
4. Inpa Sekiro Combat
5. Valravn
6. Wildcat
7. Smilodon
8. Blade&Blunt
9. Stamina Matters
10. Regen Adjuster
11. Vigor
12. Requiem
13. Engarde
14. Any mod that implements its own timed blocking feature. You only need one timed blocking system!
15. Deflection
16. Strike Obstruction Systems
17. Inpa Sekiro Combat's timed block
18. Ultimate Combat's timed block
19. Wildcat's timed block
20. Ordinator's timed block perk
21. Any mod that makes blocking stamina-only. You no longer need them.
22. Any mod that uses TrueHud API's special meter. They may take control of the TrueHUD special meter prior to Valhalla Combat, resulting in the stun meter not showing Valhalla's Stun values. If you wish Valhalla Combat to use the special meter as the stun meter, turn off the special meter usage in other mod's settings.
23. Poise - Stagger Overhaul
24. Chocolate Poise
25. Any combat animation/moveset that are not properly annotated. If they lack "preHitframe" annotation, attack stamina feature won't work on them.

Frequently Asked Mods that are compatible

1. Violens
2. Skysa

Creature Mods/Custom Races

1. Valhalla Combat's execution does not work with custom races added by creature mods out of box. This means if you're playing a custom race, you can't execute NPCs without a compatibility patch.
2. A compatibility patch with any creature mods can be easily made, in the form of an .ini file stored in SKSE\Plugins\ValhallaCombat\RaceMapping.
3. Compatibility patches for Immersive Creatures and Vigilant are included. Refer to them if you wish to make other compatibility patches.

Mod Integration

Timed Blocking and Stun&Execution are two completely new mechanics. Since Skyrim is a role-playing game. I have plans to integrate them into perk overhauls for a more consistent experience. If you're working on a perk overhaul or willing to make integration patches, feel free to reach out to me.

FAQ

1. Can I use it with ^&*%*^# ?
2. -Refer to the "Compatibility" section. If the mod you mention isn't on the list, it's most likely compatible.
3. I crashed/There is a bug!
4. -Refer to the "BUG Report" section and submit a report accordingly.
5. What moveset/Combat animation are you using?
6. I'm using the WIP collection "Elder Creed" animted primarily by Ausio, Slim, and Craptain Falcon. The axe and dual-axe moveset can be found in Austio's profile page . The sword moveset is made by Craptain Falcon and should be soon relesaed.
7. What ENB are you using?
8. I'm using "Cabbage ENB", a WIP preset made by a friend.
9. 
   

BUG Report

Refer to this article to report a bug. I can't help you if you don't provide me enough information so I'll have dismiss underinformed bug reports as "not a bug".

Credits

1. My Patrons. Can't do it without your support :)
2. SKSE team for SKSE
3. FudgyDuff for clib
4. Bingle for being incredibly patient and teaching me a lot of introductory stuff.
5. Ersh for teaching me a lot of advanced stuff, basically doing half of the coding for me in his TrueHud and Precision API.
6. Austio, Slim, and Craptain Falcon's moveset series "Elder Creed" is used in the demo.
7. MaxSu for Simple Block Sparks, used for perfect block spark generation.
8. Loki for the hook from Stagger On Hit.
9. Fenix for the function addresses to play 3D sound and helping me implement AI changes.
10. KittyTail, PO3 , and Bingle for the timed block sparks effect resource
11. 绝伦少年 for drawing the cover image
12. Cabbage ENB is used in description GIFs
13. People of RE discord
14. Everyone testing my plugins and giving feedbacks
15. Mern for perusing the mod description and correcting grammatical errors

Source

1. GitHub