What is better, dual weapons or a weapon and a shield?

[Simniac]

 

 

Neither is better, it just depends on who your character is. A thief/assassin would want smaller, lighter weapons that are easy to conceal or throw away in a hurry, and probably wouldn't go sneaking around lugging a heavy clunky shield on their back. A knight or soldier with formal combat instruction might prefer the sword/mace and shield style of fight, blocking, circling and waiting for an opening - or they might be more agressive and parry with two swords/a sword and a dagger. A barbarian with a simplistic "kill all the things" mind might prefer to just hack and slash at everything with two war axes (if a big two-handed battleaxe is too unwieldy). Use what feels right for your character.

Im sorry if this is a n00b question, but how do you do circling? Is that when you circle around left/back/right or right/back/left to avoid getting hit in combat?

 

 

No it's where you block and go in circles around the enemy, like circle his body, like act like your creating a circle around that person.

 

That seems much less effective, are you sure about that?

[dorrionfinley]

 

 

 

Neither is better, it just depends on who your character is. A thief/assassin would want smaller, lighter weapons that are easy to conceal or throw away in a hurry, and probably wouldn't go sneaking around lugging a heavy clunky shield on their back. A knight or soldier with formal combat instruction might prefer the sword/mace and shield style of fight, blocking, circling and waiting for an opening - or they might be more agressive and parry with two swords/a sword and a dagger. A barbarian with a simplistic "kill all the things" mind might prefer to just hack and slash at everything with two war axes (if a big two-handed battleaxe is too unwieldy). Use what feels right for your character.

Im sorry if this is a n00b question, but how do you do circling? Is that when you circle around left/back/right or right/back/left to avoid getting hit in combat?

 

 

No it's where you block and go in circles around the enemy, like circle his body, like act like your creating a circle around that person.

 

That seems much less effective, are you sure about that?

 

Woops I misread what the guy said, yes indeed you were right it's just going left/ back/ right or vice versa. However, the method I said earler is super effective. Enemies tend to miss A LOT since AI doesn't know how to change direction while attacking especially power attacking, if you can move in circles and catch them during a power attack then you have a nice little spot to attack. It actually decreases likeliness of getting hit. (But this is for 1 v 1 combat) when it comes to group combats it gets harder to land a hit.

[Simniac]

 

 

 

 

Neither is better, it just depends on who your character is. A thief/assassin would want smaller, lighter weapons that are easy to conceal or throw away in a hurry, and probably wouldn't go sneaking around lugging a heavy clunky shield on their back. A knight or soldier with formal combat instruction might prefer the sword/mace and shield style of fight, blocking, circling and waiting for an opening - or they might be more agressive and parry with two swords/a sword and a dagger. A barbarian with a simplistic "kill all the things" mind might prefer to just hack and slash at everything with two war axes (if a big two-handed battleaxe is too unwieldy). Use what feels right for your character.

Im sorry if this is a n00b question, but how do you do circling? Is that when you circle around left/back/right or right/back/left to avoid getting hit in combat?

 

 

No it's where you block and go in circles around the enemy, like circle his body, like act like your creating a circle around that person.

 

That seems much less effective, are you sure about that?

 

Woops I misread what the guy said, yes indeed you were right it's just going left/ back/ right or vice versa. However, the method I said earler is super effective. Enemies tend to miss A LOT since AI doesn't know how to change direction while attacking especially power attacking, if you can move in circles and catch them during a power attack then you have a nice little spot to attack. It actually decreases likeliness of getting hit. (But this is for 1 v 1 combat) when it comes to group combats it gets harder to land a hit.

 

Alright, thank you for the tips, I'll try them out. :)

[ManleySteele]

If you're playing a warrior, why choose? I use them all in the same game, but to do that effectively, you have to start the game using all four types of attack (I also use a bow extensively) The only places I put any perks early in the game are one-handed, two handed, shield, both armor types and sneak. I take steel armor from smithing and basicly nothing else but speech. I only take speech when there is nothing else available from my list. It works fairly well most of the time. I don't enchant or use enchanted armor or weapons, so my game stays balanced fairly late into the game. Eventually you will need to advance your smithing, but otherwise, I have a lot of fun. Not saying it's for everyone, but it matches my personality pretty well. Don't know what that says about me.

[Hypermouse1mil]

Using dual-wield or shield tactics comes down to how much perks and work your willing to put into mastering the techniques. I usually play a spell-sword character myself but sometimes i use the shield and select the shield perks that allow for faster movement and charge bashing, it's kind of OP though because you can basically knock down anything in your path and chop it up at will due to the infinite amount of time it takes to stand back up but it does get one out of tight spots in a hurry. Unless your going to invest the time to blacksmith good armor and add the appropriate perks to increase its effectiveness i would avoid dual-wield in the higher difficulties because your wide open for counter attacks of you don't land your attacks first. If you want to finish your opponent as quickly as possible using sneak is the most efficient.

[DashingKnight]

If I had to choose between the two I'd rather use a weapon and shield over dual wielding.

 

I'll tell you what has always worked the best for me though, equipping my left hand with a good restoration spell and my right hand with a powerful enchanted sword. You may want to consider trying that combination out.

[dorrionfinley]

Honestly for me, fighting style doesn't even matter. I usually go solo and run through dungeons without being detected by sleeping draugr. I actually... run through everything... I made my character a traveler who has a heart for helping people... so... he just... runs... the only real fight's I've actually been in are the boss fights / scripted fights.

[Simniac]

Honestly for me, fighting style doesn't even matter. I usually go solo and run through dungeons without being detected by sleeping draugr. I actually... run through everything... I made my character a traveler who has a heart for helping people... so... he just... runs... the only real fight's I've actually been in are the boss fights / scripted fights.

But if you just run through everything, how come you know such detailed combat tips, especially that one that was super effective? Why bother to look those tips up, if that was the case, if you're only a traveler?

[dorrionfinley]

 

But if you just run through everything, how come you know such detailed combat tips, especially that one that was super effective? Why bother to look those tips up, if that was the case, if you're only a traveler?

 

I have played many fighting types ranging from Mage, To Ranger, To classic Board-n-Sword, to sneaky power-hungry assassin, to my current playthrough, a Traveler. I like the Traveler better because it reflects what I would actually do in real life inside of a Draugr crypt...run. No way in heck would I, in real life, wait around for Draugr to wake up. Scary as frick man.

[DarkMouse42]

It depends on what you prefer.