Dual Wield is useless

[erenoth02]

Dual wielding two axes :) Fire enchanted and Ice Enchanted, it doesn't get much better than opponents burning while their frozen I can easily hack through a large group of enemies unless their unaffected by fire or ice.

[Drakhaoul]

I went dual wield dagger rogue as my first character also.

 

Since going sword + shield on a new character, my character feels about 10x more powerful than his first incarnation. Shield + block perk focus truly is king in this game or so it feels. Nothing I have played (dual wield assassination rogue + armored mage) feels remotely comparable. All the old enemies I used to fear from mages to trolls have become cakewalks after I learned the almighty skill of smashing them in the face with my shield and then sticking my sword in their faces.

 

Dual wield really needs to be able to block, block truly is king of this game in my experience. It can slow time which is something one of the best dragon shouts can do. Honestly dual wielding should allow the RMB to block while allowing LMB to attack with both daggers in turn with increased attack speed.

 

 

QFT. My first character was a 2handed warrior and then a dual wielding assassin. I got both to around level 20 before getting bored and rolling a new character. My 3rd character was a sword and board warrior and I had the same experience you did: He was amazingly more powerful and enemies that used to destroy my old characters became very manageable. The other thing about using shields is that while the game becomes easier it's not like you're just running around killing everything in seconds - that would be boring, instead you actually have to block, dodge power attacks, and interrupt spell casting. It adds a level of depth and enjoyment that my other characters lacked. Of course this is all just my opinion but I rarely enjoy shield/sword warriors in any game, but in Skyrim it's infinitely more fun than anything else I've tried so far.

 

My new warrior is now L38 and I'm still not bored :)

[nitevision92]

that would be boring, instead you actually have to block, dodge power attacks, and interrupt spell casting.

That's what I liked about Sword and Board. The fact that I could advance with my shield up, walking at an ominously slow pace and force enemy archers to the edges of cliffs...Then bash them over. I could almost see the fear in their eyes as they kept firing ineffectively into my shield.

I briefly did a stint as a dual-wielding warrior-monk type with hooded robes, 2 ebony axes and steel plate boots. It was quite fun, having to think out my approach and run around a little before turning people into mincemeat. Elemental Fury is basically a death sentence to any strong target that travels alone, or small weak mobs of 5-6. In fact, the damage output is insane once you get to higher levels- twohanded weapons are left in the dust.

 

Do agree that we have to have a block feature though. But how would it be implemented? With the MMB perhaps?

Edited December 11, 2011 by nitevision92

[gofortheko]

Well one problem is I was using two daggers, once the sneak attack is up, youre better off switching to two sword/axe/mace combos, since daggers dont get + one hand damage buffs from enchantments. (not sure why the one hand perks work, and the enchantments dont, probably not to Overpower sneak attack, but I got the DB gloves so I do x30 damage which is enough to one hit more things). I am going to run with a shield more for concept, because a dagger wielding assassin with uses a shield is dope.

[Drakhaoul]

that would be boring, instead you actually have to block, dodge power attacks, and interrupt spell casting.

That's what I liked about Sword and Board. The fact that I could advance with my shield up, walking at an ominously slow pace and force enemy archers to the edges of cliffs...Then bash them over. I could almost see the fear in their eyes as they kept firing ineffectively into my shield.

I briefly did a stint as a dual-wielding warrior-monk type with hooded robes, 2 ebony axes and steel plate boots. It was quite fun, having to think out my approach and run around a little before turning people into mincemeat. Elemental Fury is basically a death sentence to any strong target that travels alone, or small weak mobs of 5-6. In fact, the damage output is insane once you get to higher levels- twohanded weapons are left in the dust.

 

Do agree that we have to have a block feature though. But how would it be implemented? With the MMB perhaps?

 

Haha I loved shield bashing people off cliffs, good times.

 

Elemental fury also made me think of how good 2-handed warriors can be as well. Even though I'm mostly a sword n board warrior I also have my 2h at L80 with a daedric battleaxe. Using my orcs daily passive combined with elemental fury I can take down Elder Dragons in about 5 seconds. (Expert difficulty)

[Wintercross]

that would be boring, instead you actually have to block, dodge power attacks, and interrupt spell casting.

That's what I liked about Sword and Board. The fact that I could advance with my shield up, walking at an ominously slow pace and force enemy archers to the edges of cliffs...Then bash them over. I could almost see the fear in their eyes as they kept firing ineffectively into my shield.

I briefly did a stint as a dual-wielding warrior-monk type with hooded robes, 2 ebony axes and steel plate boots. It was quite fun, having to think out my approach and run around a little before turning people into mincemeat. Elemental Fury is basically a death sentence to any strong target that travels alone, or small weak mobs of 5-6. In fact, the damage output is insane once you get to higher levels- twohanded weapons are left in the dust.

 

Do agree that we have to have a block feature though. But how would it be implemented? With the MMB perhaps?

 

MMB would be perfect for block.

Back in Oblivion using Unnesesary Violence I used MMB as block and RM as offhand weapon and it worked well.

[bolivor]

I think dualo-wielders are prevented from blocking for balance purposes. I think that if you could deal 2x the damage, at a faster rate with the speed perks, plus block, there would be very little challenge. Doesn't meant i wouldn't want to try it out though :thumbsup: My biggest problem is the second weapon not being on my character in 3rd person. So annoying.

[Roltak]

I am at the moment playing a dual wield/archer assassin character on master and get killed by almost everything as soon as I get even remotely close to it, because I can't dodge, block or anything. Perhaps I am just really really bad at the game but (some)twohand bandits can kill me in 2-3 hits and my attacks do somewhere between 5-10% damage on them. That is why I use archery as my second fighting ability, simply because I would get slaughtered otherwise. Perhaps in my next game I will go for twohand or onehand/shield, heavy armor, enchanting and smithing and see if I can be better at that.

 

But yes I have to agree dual wield is useless at least for lightly armored/sneaky chars. Simply give me a dodge ability and I will be happy, because I know I can evade that heavy blows if I am just fast enough ... or block, or parry or just something to give me some survivability, but dodge would be best, perhaps also the ability to make infight sneakkills from behind. I mean if I manage to get into his back and are fast (and lucky) enough I think I should be able to quickly push the dagger through the back of his neck or slit his throat. Just some ideas.

[Susurruss]

I am at the moment playing a dual wield/archer assassin character on master and get killed by almost everything as soon as I get even remotely close to it, because I can't dodge, block or anything. Perhaps I am just really really bad at the game but (some)twohand bandits can kill me in 2-3 hits and my attacks do somewhere between 5-10% damage on them. That is why I use archery as my second fighting ability, simply because I would get slaughtered otherwise. Perhaps in my next game I will go for twohand or onehand/shield, heavy armor, enchanting and smithing and see if I can be better at that.

 

But yes I have to agree dual wield is useless at least for lightly armored/sneaky chars. Simply give me a dodge ability and I will be happy, because I know I can evade that heavy blows if I am just fast enough ... or block, or parry or just something to give me some survivability, but dodge would be best, perhaps also the ability to make infight sneakkills from behind. I mean if I manage to get into his back and are fast (and lucky) enough I think I should be able to quickly push the dagger through the back of his neck or slit his throat. Just some ideas.

 

It is not useless for sneaky characters. I had a tough time with dual-wield at first. I didn't know about having to hit both buttons at once to an 'attack' that hits the baddies a few times. Seems obvious in retrospect. But I also boosted my alchemy a bit because I went through potions like a madman (the poisons help a bit too). Bumped my restoration to dual-cast. Alteration is the other, dual-casting stoneflesh helps a bunch - it lasts for the whole combat. The hardest part about dragons now is just getting them in range of my sword/dagger!

[vertex23]

Sure is a good thing enemies attack your followers before attacking you.

 

Pop on dual wield

Let your follower tank

????

Destroy everything