Twist the Knife - an Adamant Addon
🟡 Updated this year⚠️ Install Order · 6 steps
Install in this order, then this mod last — most mods fail to load without their framework and dependencies in place.
Preview

🔍 Analysis
- 👍 1.2% endorsement rate — high engagement, a strong quality signal
- 🏆 #24 of 136 Gameplay mods in this game by downloads
📋 About This Mod
Patch Notes:
Version 2. 0 updates for Adamant 6. 0 with a huge number of bug fixes, balance changes, and mechanical redesigns. Removes Adamant 6. 0's critical strike system and uses the vanilla critical system instead.
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[]Axe Bleeds can now refresh, but still do not stack.[/]
[]Mace Armor Break can now refresh, but still does not stack.[/]
[]Mace empowered light attack damage reduced by 50%.[/]
[]Sword light attack critical chance reduced from 25/50% to 10/20%. Light attack criticals now scale with Sword critical damage perks.[/]
[]Daggers now deal a large amount of poise damage when triggering Twist the Knife and deal increased stagger damage for its entire duration. Requires Chocolate Poise Reforged.[/]
[]Twist the Knife now lasts 8 seconds down from 10. [/]
[]Weapon mechanic scaling has been reduced by 50% (critical damage, Bleed damage, and armor reduction).[/]
[]All perks that previously affected only power attacks now affect both power and normal attacks.[/]
[]A huge number of bug fixes, along with updated perk descriptions. This was a very ambitious project given my limited knowledge when I first created it. I've gone back through the entire overhaul and fixed a ton of bugs and cleaned up the mechanics and descriptions.[/]
Weapon Changes
Dagger
A Dagger path has been added to the One-Handed path. They function as an opportunistic weapon that sets up huge damage windows. Back attacks gain increased damage, critical strike chance and critical strike damage. Unblocked attacks stack a bleed up to four times, the next power attack after the stacks have been applied consumes them, and applies a massive bleed for 8 seconds, putting the enemy in a vulnerable state where all backstab bonuses now apply regardless of where the enemy is hit. Dagger bleeds scale with One-Handed level.
[]Find the Gap(30): Unblocked dagger attacks apply a light bleed that stacks up to 4 times and striking an enemy from behind increases attack damage and critical chance by 25% and critical damage by 50%.[/]
[]Find the Gap(70): Unblocked dagger attacks apply a light bleed that stacks up to 4 times and striking an enemy from behind increases attack damage and critical chance by 50% and critical damage by 100%.[/]
[*]Twist the Knife(50): At maximum Bleed stacks, your next power attack consumes all Bleed effects on the target, ripping their wounds open for heavy Bleed and poise damage and leaving them Vulnerable
Twist the Knife is a gameplay addon for Adamant that expands the One-Handed skill tree with a dedicated dagger path and a no-offhand playstyle. It reworks existing weapon perks with simple but deep mechanics and retunes the tree for modern combat overhauls. With 76 endorsements and recent updates, it's a niche but active mod.
✨ Key Features
📊 Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Solid niche pick with 76 endorsements and over 6k downloads—clearly some people are using it.
- The dagger path and no-offhand style add real build variety if you're tired of sword-and-board.
- Recently updated (April 2026), so it's not abandoned—always a good sign for compatibility.
⚠️ Cons
- Requires Adamant as a base, so if you're not already using that perk overhaul, this is a no-go.
- Only 76 endorsements means it's a smaller community—less feedback and fewer patches if issues pop up.
- Retuning for 'modern combat overhauls' could clash with other perk or combat mods you're running—check your load order.
For Skyrim players who already run Adamant and want a more specialized One-Handed tree, especially if you're into dagger builds or going sword-and-spell without an offhand. Skip if you're not using Adamant or prefer a more vanilla perk experience.
💡 Beginner Tips
- Make sure you have Adamant installed and loaded before this mod, or the new perks won't show up.
- If you're using other combat overhauls, place Twist the Knife after them in your load order to avoid conflicts.
- Test the dagger path on a new character to see if the no-offhand playstyle fits your build before committing.
📊 Mod Details
- Game
- Skyrim Mods
- Author
- Strife
- Version
- 1
- Downloads
- 6,249
- Endorsements
- 76
- Category
- Gameplay
- Created
- 1/25/2026
- Updated
- 4/3/2026
🔧 How to Install Skyrim Mods
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