if you’ve ever fancied adding a hearty dollop of WWE-style combat to Skyrim’s melee brawling, you’re in luck – there’s a new mod framework for “implementing combat animations, such as individual taunts and paired animations”. Best of all, “an emphasis is placed on choreographed violence”. In a wrestling ring. Neat.
WrestleLabs by modding group DisgruntledWombats acts as a framework for creating your own combat moves in Skyrim. “It allows users to easily implement their own taunts and paired animations for choreographed (and perhaps with enough tweaking, actual) combat,” the modders explain. “By using the included ESP and Scripts, you can replace our work with your own additions and edits.”
For example, they say, you can use some of their animations – like ‘Big Boot’ and ‘Receive Blow’ – and chuck in “a Suplex animation and differing Receive Move animation” and have them pop up in-game “at the press of a button”. Just think of the screenshots you could grab of your Dovahkiin dishing out some half-Nelsons to draugr. Or you can just flip them the bird, if you want to use some of the default taunts the modders have included with the mod.
When you’re in the game, you use spell books to learn the animations – which come as ‘lesser powers’ – then you equip them and tap the button you use for spells, et voilà! The taunts and paired animations play in-game.
Check the mod out in action in the clip below. Seeing the Dovahkiin take the ring to execute some very acrobatic moves is just glorious.
If you’re keen to give it a try, head to the WrestleLabs mod page here. Be sure to follows the creators’ instructions on how to use the mod framework, which are included on the page, and as ever, mod at your own risk!
If you’re keen to try out some ready-made creations instead, take a look at our carefully curated list of the best Skyrim mods on PC, which you can go grab right now.