2 Handed sucks?

[Mercbird]

I found speed and stamina to be key, so I light armour and have a lighter weapon in my left hand like a dagger or glass or elven (speed of attack is determined by the weight of the off-hand and, stamina cost by the weight of the main)

Its an aggressive stance so you have to get in there and power attack (both buttons)immediately untill you are out of stamina, if I've run out of stamina potions as well, especially early on before I perked all the dual wield perks, I'd switch to a shield and fight more defensively.

And if that didn't work I ran. I ran my ass off. Past town guards helped. :whistling:

[Perraine]

Best way I've found is to have 2 different 2 handed weapons = 1 x battleaxe and 1 x greatsword, for animals and normal draugr use the battleaxe for bosses use the sword ... Two things I found that really help, 1 is to remember to improve 'block' and also (and this seems a forgotten skill by many) Alchemy and potions are your best friend!

 

Kill a spider and get the venom, put that on your sword and it's amazing how much damage it will do ... Create paralysis poisons to slather on your weapons, it REALLY helps with the bosses, and Trolls for instance, are particularly susceptible to poisons and paralysis as are giants! ... Go toe to toe with a Giant early game and you'll end up doing the "Skyrim Skydive", but they fall over with even the weakest of paralysis poisons ... Then you can stand over them and power attack with the 2 handed weapon and they'll be toast within seconds ...

 

Watch your enemy carefully, timing is VERY important, the game will NOT recognize a power attack and stumble the opponent unless they are fully recovered from the last stumble, so learn the timing for the powerup/cooldown of YOUR power attacks and also learn to recognize the animations that mean an enemy has recovered from a stumble, too early and it will not effect them or get you a critical hit, too late and they'll block you, but, with a little practice you can keep even the toughest enemy from ever getting a hit on you and get crit. hit after crit. hit, stumble after stumble ... It's almost like a dance

[thomriis]

I play on expert difficulty to and like the challenge it gives me, If you are playing like a warrior/beserker type its even more important bumping up

 

your smithing skill, just smith loads of crap items to raise your skill. Get yourself a full set of daedric armor and with a workbench you can upgrade it well over 500 in armor rating.

 

NOW GO OUT AND SLICE THOSE SCUM!!!

 

I wouldn't say it's more important. It's certainly one way to go. I've hardly used smithing at all with any of my characters and been just fine. I know there are tons of people that power-level smithing, but it just doesn't seem right to me. I'm not saying don't do it, just that you don't HAVE to do it.

 

Im not suggesting powersmithing,Just do it little by little cause if you play on expert or master level you need to make up for it, Otherwise it would get to hard.

 

You could also look for enchanted armor or jewelry that increases your health,Dont bother enchanting them yourself unless you have a very high enchanting skill,and the fortify armor skills are pretty useless to.

 

I dont know how experienced you are with the ES GAMES but there are so many possibilities, I have about 20 years of experience with these games and could probably ramble on for centuries he he

[MacSuibhne]

Best way I've found is to have 2 different 2 handed weapons = 1 x battleaxe and 1 x greatsword, for animals and normal draugr use the battleaxe for bosses use the sword ... Two things I found that really help, 1 is to remember to improve 'block' and also (and this seems a forgotten skill by many) Alchemy and potions are your best friend!

 

Kill a spider and get the venom, put that on your sword and it's amazing how much damage it will do ... Create paralysis poisons to slather on your weapons, it REALLY helps with the bosses, and Trolls for instance, are particularly susceptible to poisons and paralysis as are giants! ... Go toe to toe with a Giant early game and you'll end up doing the "Skyrim Skydive", but they fall over with even the weakest of paralysis poisons ... Then you can stand over them and power attack with the 2 handed weapon and they'll be toast within seconds ...

 

Watch your enemy carefully, timing is VERY important, the game will NOT recognize a power attack and stumble the opponent unless they are fully recovered from the last stumble, so learn the timing for the powerup/cooldown of YOUR power attacks and also learn to recognize the animations that mean an enemy has recovered from a stumble, too early and it will not effect them or get you a critical hit, too late and they'll block you, but, with a little practice you can keep even the toughest enemy from ever getting a hit on you and get crit. hit after crit. hit, stumble after stumble ... It's almost like a dance

 

 

Two questions:

 

How do you put spider venom or paralysis poison on your weapons? I've never heard of that.

 

If you are using poisons do you get the skill boost that comes from using the weapon by itself?

[thomriis]

Best way I've found is to have 2 different 2 handed weapons = 1 x battleaxe and 1 x greatsword, for animals and normal draugr use the battleaxe for bosses use the sword ... Two things I found that really help, 1 is to remember to improve 'block' and also (and this seems a forgotten skill by many) Alchemy and potions are your best friend!

 

Kill a spider and get the venom, put that on your sword and it's amazing how much damage it will do ... Create paralysis poisons to slather on your weapons, it REALLY helps with the bosses, and Trolls for instance, are particularly susceptible to poisons and paralysis as are giants! ... Go toe to toe with a Giant early game and you'll end up doing the "Skyrim Skydive", but they fall over with even the weakest of paralysis poisons ... Then you can stand over them and power attack with the 2 handed weapon and they'll be toast within seconds ...

 

Watch your enemy carefully, timing is VERY important, the game will NOT recognize a power attack and stumble the opponent unless they are fully recovered from the last stumble, so learn the timing for the powerup/cooldown of YOUR power attacks and also learn to recognize the animations that mean an enemy has recovered from a stumble, too early and it will not effect them or get you a critical hit, too late and they'll block you, but, with a little practice you can keep even the toughest enemy from ever getting a hit on you and get crit. hit after crit. hit, stumble after stumble ... It's almost like a dance

 

 

Two questions:

 

How do you put spider venom or paralysis poison on your weapons? I've never heard of that.

 

If you are using poisons do you get the skill boost that comes from using the weapon by itself?

 

First equip the weapon you want to use, Then use the poison/potion as you normally would.

 

For mele weapons its the next hit that counts, If it has a time duration it means that the effect will last for that amount of seconds.

 

if you apply it to a bow it means the next arrow,So make sure you dont miss,And last YES you gain both effects from weapon+potion.

[MacSuibhne]

 

First equip the weapon you want to use, Then use the poison/potion as you normally would.

 

For mele weapons its the next hit that counts, If it has a time duration it means that the effect will last for that amount of seconds.

 

if you apply it to a bow it means the next arrow,So make sure you dont miss,And last YES you gain both effects from weapon+potion.

 

I appreciate you taking the time to respond...

 

I'm a Johnny-Newcome so forgive me but I didn't know any of this.

 

Just to be clear...do you just use/drink the poison?!

 

Do you have to have a weapon unsheathed at the time? Or does it apply to the next weapon you decide to use. Like I say, I'm a bit new and never played any of the ES games before so I need to know the mechanics of how to do this.

 

I thought poisons had to be administered by sneaking--like reverse pick-pocketing. Or that if you used them, they would poison you. And I can't count the times I've just left frost spider poison or some other vial of poison on a shelf because I thought they were mostly for assassins.

[thompsonar]

You must have a weapon equipped. It can be sheathed or unsheathed. Then you just go to the poison you want and "use" it just like you would a health potion. It will ask if you're sure you want to poison your weapon, click yes/ok and you're set. Like others have said it only works on your next hit with that weapon. So if you have a lot of poison you can poison your weapon, strike, poison again, strike again, etc.

[Perraine]

{Just to be clear...do you just use/drink the poison?!}

 

You just need to 'click' on it as you would any other potion and it will automatically 'use' it

{Do you have to have a weapon unsheathed at the time? Or does it apply to the next weapon you decide to use. Like I say, I'm a bit new and never played any of the ES games before so I need to know the mechanics of how to do this.}

 

It will apply to any weapon you currently have equipped (must be assigned to L or R or LR, but does NOT need to be drawn, so sheathed swords or bows on your back will still get the poison effect

 

{ I thought poisons had to be administered by sneaking--like reverse pick-pocketing. Or that if you used them, they would poison you. And I can't count the times I've just left frost spider poison or some other vial of poison on a shelf because I thought they were mostly for assassins.}

 

If you eat an ingredient (like Sabre Cat Eyes, or Nirnroot) it will effect you, sometimes badly, but you 'learn' what effects it has by doing this, just don't eat to many at once. Each ingredient has up to 4 different effects but you can generally only learn the first 2 without a special perk in Alchemy

 

Using any created poison, or Frostbite Venom, will not effect you.

 

Just to add if, you poison a weapon it will last only for the next 2 shots or 2 hits and you will need to apply another bottle, this is why alchemy is an important Skill because you can create some truly dreadfull concoctions to put on weapons ...

 

Have a look here on the Wiki

Edited May 3, 2012 by Perraine

[MacSuibhne]

Thanks to both of you.

 

Yes, I have overlooked alchemy. I regret it now. What use did I have for ectoplasm? Or hagraven feather? Or troll fat? Man, I can't believe it.

 

That said, the Wiki raises a question...how does a player learn all these recipe? I am level 25 and I have found exactly two recipes. Early on I tried mixing ingredients at a alchemists table and every time my hoped-for potions failed. so I quit collecting snowberries and the like.

 

And it always confused me that a potion could confer health or resist frost and destroy stamina or magika, all at the same time...all in the same potion.

 

I guess you have to go to the Wiki and copy or print out the recipes. Otherwise, so far I've found guidance in the game very discouraging (maybe there ought to be a way to reverse-engineer a potion to learn the recipe?).

 

But isn't having to go to the Wiki a little like cheating? I mean I've read through two walk-throughs but other than that I try to limit myself to catching up on all the lore I missed by not playing all the previous ES games.

Edited May 3, 2012 by MacSuibhne

[thompsonar]

I always just pick random ingredients to make potions at the beginning. You may get a lot of failed potions but you'll get some that work and you'll start to learn the effects from each ingredient. Eventually when your alchemy is up enough and you've uncovered enough effects for each ingredient you can easily make potions for whatever you want. You don't need to find the recipes in order to make the potion, it's just a hint you can use if you find them.