At this point in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim's life cycle, those still playing can practically craft their own experience with mods, making the exact game they want to play set in Tamriel's northernmost country. Some have made cozy life sims, others soulslike, gothic experiences, but there tend to be some mods always at the top of a load order. Of course, general improvement mods, like The Unofficial Skyrim Patch and SkyUI, usually end up in almost everyone's load order. Still, a few are vital to the specific experience modders are looking to create.

These often tend to be quite technical, like installing ENBs, which require some manual folder work to get that sweet, modded lighting to try and make Skyrim look like it was released by Bethesda today. Other things need to be taken into to make Skyrim a modern experience too, and popular adjustments to combat could, or rather should, inspire Elder Scrolls 6. Things like AI improvements, dodge mechanics, and locking on to foes will all improve Skyrim, but the most vital to making the game feel like a modern action is MCO, the Modern Combat Overhaul mod.

Skyrim's MCO Mod Is Vital For Great Modern Combat

It Makes Attacks Feel Deliberate

The Elder Scrolls has never been known for its great combat, and although it still holds a special place in my heart, vanilla Skyrim sometimes feels like swinging a baguette at an enemy until they fall over. The somewhat awkward animations feel dated in 2025, something that Oblivion Remastered acknowledged andimproved with a few key mechanics. Still, both titles lack the mechanics of MCO, now rebranded as Attack - MCO|DXP, which helps combat feel deliberate by having players commit to their attacks. This applies to enemies, too, allowing players to avoid attacks more easily.

This is done with a few changes to Skyrim's combat. The most obvious is stopping characters from moving when they commit to an attack, meaning that players can't move back and forth once the attack button is pressed. This applies to enemies, too, meaning players can bait an attack, take a step back, and strike back. Another is the change to the animations, making attacks more obvious and adding combos, which have variation thanks to being able to chain power attacks into these combos. Players can read enemy combos, making combat feel more involved than before.

MCO requires some kind of separate button mod for power attacks for combos to work properly, but the website suggests three.

Although adjustments, this requires a lot of work from the mod and the installation process isn't the most convenient, with MCO requiring behavior frameworks like Nemesis. This alone will not complete the modern gaming experience either, although the creator of MCO, Distar, features many more mods on their page to go with MCO, such as dodging, although something like TKdodge will work just as well. YouTuber Mern's guide on installing MCO is featured on Distar's website, and is a reliable way to install it despite the many complications involved, especially for those who are relatively new to the modding scene.

Elder Scrolls 6 Needs To Add More Complexity To Combat

Oblivion Remastered Is A Step In The Right Direction

Although ES6 doesn't need MCO's level of complexity, with that being inspired by Soulsborne combat specifically, adding more complexity to combat is needed, considering that many modders make some change to Skyrim's fighting mechanics. Bethesda clearly understands this to some degree, thinking that Oblivion Remastered adds some neat features to make combat more layered. Players can finally dodge in an Elder Scrolls game, and there are combos of a kind, such as one-handed swords using a slash, slash, stab combo in first person. Still, the Remaster cannot stray too far from the original.

Combat in Oblivion Remastered still feels floaty and not deliberate, which is ironically deliberate, since it is remastering a game from 2006 with some marked improvements. If Bethesda takes what Virtuos has done with Oblivion Remastered's combat and pushes it to the nth degree with true combos, stopping characters from moving when committing attacks, and more intelligent AI, ES6's combat could be something to write home about. MCO has already shown that these changes improve Skyrim's combat substantially and provide the framework for more combat variation, allowing weapons to feel vastly different.

Virtuos developed Oblivion Remastered using Unreal Engine 5 and it is expected that the studio will also make the Fallout 3 remaster.

A criticism of Skyrim's combat is that the animations for many weapons are the same, but MCO, and additional moveset animation mods paired with MCO, change this, allowing each weapon to play completely differently. A greatsword can start feeling more elegant, while a warhammer can be a brutal, heavy weapon for crushing skulls. There are even stance mods that allow for different movesets per weapon, meaning that players can switch to a wide-swiping moveset to deal with hordes of enemies, or a precise, quick one when dealing with a boss, such as those pesky giants sending Dragonborns to space.

ES6 Has A Lot To Learn From Skyrim's Mod Community

And The Modding Community Will Have A Lot To Do When ES6 Launches#

Bethesda has the most exceptional modding community in the gaming industry. While this is sometimes a source of controversy, there is a lot to learn from the community, especially MCO. While MCO and many of its accompanying mods often make the game feel a bit too Soulsborne for most, its highly versatile nature makes combat customizable. I personally take advantage of the stances and power attack combos in my modlist to make the game feel like a hack-and-slash. However, players can choose less extreme animations for a more vanilla plus experience.

Making deliberate attacks by rooting characters when they commit to a strike completely changes the dynamic of combat, and adding combos makes choices in combat feel more engaging. With foes unable to move when they attack too, movement becomes more vital than ever, and these small changes introduced by MCO could be the perfect adjustments for ES6. It isn't as though Bethesda doesn't like leaning on the modding community, given the mod for consoles and adding controversial paid mods. Doing the same with ES6's mechanics is a gold deposit waiting to be mined.

In the meantime, players can craft the exact combat experience they want with MCO. Accompanying mods can make this feel like an enhanced version of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, a hack and slash, as is my case, or something Soulsborne-esque. The customization options are what make the mod a must-have in many modlists. Although Elder Scrolls 6 doesn't have to offer this level of customization, it should make an effort to create a deliberate combat system that is more involved, especially if ES6 is to live up to the loft expectations set for it.

Source: distaranimation.com, YouTube - Mern