What causes Skyrim combat overhaul to feel weak vs damage sponges, load order?

[Steven55]

I finally got around to trying that popular combat overhaul for Skyrim, but after a few hours I feel like my character is just swinging a wet noodle at damage-sponge enemies. Is this a common experience with this specific mod, or did I mess up my load order somewhere?

[Ava_J]

Yeah, that sounds about right. After a few hours with that overhaul, I felt like I was swinging a wet noodle at damage-sponge enemies.

[Jonathan.S]

To me it looked like load order drama more than skill, patches bumping into each other can slow your swings and mess timing.

[PaisleyD]

I did a quick test on a separate profile with just the core patch set, and the feeling of clunkiness shifted a bit.

[Zachary.L]

Are you using any optional features or patches that change weapon weight or stagger? Could that be the real problem?

[Jonathan61]

I tried stepping back from it for a while, played something else, then came back and still felt slow; not sure if I misread the patch notes.

[OliverL]

One memory: I kept testing with different weapons and no matter what, the hits felt squishy against tougher enemies.

[Olivia47]

Another thought that drifted in: sometimes the issue wasn’t the numbers but the animation timing or weapon idle; it can feel off even when DPS seems okay.