Unrelenting Force (Skyrim)

"With all three words together, this Shout is much more powerful. Use it wisely."

- Arngeir

Unrelenting Force is a Dragon Shout in . It is the very first shout learned by the Dragonborn. Unless the Dragonborn abstains from progressing in the main quest enough to find the Word Walls needed to maximize another Shout, Unrelenting Force is the first of the game's shouts to be mastered.

Location
The shout is learned during the main quest. It is unique in the fact that only one Dragon Soul is required to get the full power of the Shout. The first word is automatically unlocked once the Last Dragonborn absorbs Mirmulnir's soul. The Greybeards will provide the Dragonborn with their knowledge of the next two words, removing the need to obtain additional dragon souls to unlock them.

Effect
The first and second words of Unrelenting Force will stagger enemies caught in its wake for a short amount of time. When the third word is used, the target is thrown backward and temporarily ragdolled, inflicting additional environmental damage upon impact. If thrown over a cliff or other significant dropoff, the victim will also take falling damage, which can cause much more damage or instant death.

Large creatures such as Dragons and mammoths will not be thrown, but will be staggered. If a dragon is using a breath attack at the Dragonborn and this Shout is used, the attack will be interrupted and the dragon will become staggered. Ethereal creatures, children, dragon priests, and Slaughterfish are not affected at all by Unrelenting Force. It is also possible to stop Unrelenting Force with a ward. Necromancers and Conjurers often employ this tactic.

Usage
While the damage caused by this Shout is minimal in most cases, it is useful for creating openings to attack an enemy, or thinning out a crowd. It can also give the user breathing room and allow them to run from high leveled enemies such as giants. It can be used, when fully upgraded, to blast foes off the top of long drops and let gravity dispose of them.

As of  expansion, Unrelenting Force has a more pronounced effect on certain objects in the game: insects (such as torchbugs, moths, and dragonflies) can be "knocked down", and all varieties of fish (except Slaughterfish) can be killed when hit with the effect of this Shout, for example. Salmon killed in this manner yield both salmon meat and salmon roe, just as if they were killed by a bow.

However, with the Dragonborn Force effect in the DLC, the shout becomes much more powerful, instantly killing weaker enemies and dealing significant damage to others, maintaining usefulness even against boss level enemies (except for large creatures and dragon priests), especially when combined with the other Dragonborn shout Dragon Aspect. This makes the shout much more versatile, and an overall more viable shout over the likes of fire or frost breath, especially in places with tight corners and draugr-infested dungeons.

Trivia

 * The in-game (male) version of this shout has angered many fans for being vastly different from the epic-sounding "trailer shout". The in-game version sounds as if it was broken into pieces and played in a sequence. Certain mods have been released to alter the shout voice to match that of the trailer.
 * Draugr Scourge Lords and Draugr Scourges are capable of using a one or two-word Unrelenting Force Shout. Draugr Death Overlords and Draugr Overlords are capable of using the full three-word Shout. Getting hit with it temporarily ragdolls the Dragonborn, in a similar fashion aesthetically to the event of Death. This can be quite dangerous if there are multiple Draugr present.
 * There seems to be a threshold for the Shouts, as not all of them will ragdoll the Dragonborn. Getting hit point blank seems to have a 50-50 chance of a knockback, while getting hit from about 3 to 5 metres away has a 70% chance of a knockback. When multiple Deathlords are present, they can combine their Shouts, which can ragdoll the Dragonborn in one hit and incapacitate them for a maximum of 30 seconds.
 * A good (and rather frustrating) example of the incapacitation effect is during the final segment of the Forbidden Legend quest, where the final three "bosses" greatly abuse the shout to disorient the Dragonborn.
 * The shout can be augmented with Force Without Effort, increasing the stagger effect of an uncharged shout.
 * This shout can be used to detect "Draugr coffins" (coffins that can burst open to release Draugr). One can tell if a coffin houses a Draugr or not by standing next to it and shout. The Draugr inside will be blasted out of the coffin and stunned. This does not work on standing coffins.
 * If the add-on is installed, the shout can be augmented with Dragonborn Force. With this ability, almost any low level enemy will be blown away and disintegrate, while more powerful opponents will only suffer heavier direct physical damage and environmental damage. It also makes it easier to blow enemies off cliffs or mountains.
 * Ulfric Stormcloak can perform this Shout, and he used it against High King Torygg during their battle. He may use it whenever in combat, and, consequently, in the final battle of the Civil War questline.
 * This is likely the shout that Ulfric Stormcloak used to defeat Torygg. Though Ulfric had alledgedly "shouted Torygg to pieces", the same effect cannot be replicated in-game, even with the Dragonborn Force effect.
 * While speaking to him, Ulfric himself denies "shouting Torygg to pieces", and says instead that he merely knocked the King down with his Voice, with the fatal blow being dealt from his sword. This aligns with the effect of the Unrelenting Force shout.
 * Alduin can be heard using this shout at the beginning of the game. He uses this shout when the Dragonborn is on the chopping block, about to be executed. If subtitles are on, Alduin can be seen speaking the last two words, "Ro.....Dah"
 * It is possible to bypass the wordwall for learning the first word of the shout if the Dragonborn has learned a rune. Using the rune against the coffin in the room with the word wall will result in the Draugr being released prematurely and allow the Dragonborn to avoid learning the first word, though upon killing the first Dragon at the Western Watchtower, they will automatically learn the first word and unlock the first level of the shout.

Bugs

 * Sometimes the shout will increase the Werewolf perk tree progress.
 * Sometimes when backing up in combat and using Unrelenting Force, the shout will be heard but nothing will happen. The player cannot cast spells or switch shouts after the shout is heard. The way to fix this is to stand still and use the shout again.

Appearances


Безжалостная сила Unerbittliche Macht (Schrei)