UESP Forums

I fully understand what this means, that is not why I write this as it is quite self explanatory. What I want to know is if I should do it. For the first few months I played I had it off; I was unsure about most the game and was afraid of some how messing it up. But now as a well experienced player with several hundred hours clocked, should I continue to use this feature? Is it seen as cheap and lazy if I do, and is it realistic (for those RP styles of play)?

The combat enhancement you are referring to, is that a mod? Cuz I play Xbox. And peeps who play Xbox can't do that funny modding thing. God could, but of course, he's God. He can do anything.

I used to use it when I was new to the game, but after a few hours (even with the difficulty turned up some) the game got to easy. Now I just have it off. Not sure if it makes things seem more real, but it seems more fun to me.

Okay then,I'll turn it off. thanks for the input.

All it really does is make it so you have to move yourself a little whenever you attack... in my opinion it doesn't make things harder, just more annoying.

I typically use a short blade, the damage stats of which don't differ too much, or a bow-n-arrow. I don't bother with the "best attack - on / off" option because it makes a negligible difference in my case.

If I were you, though, I'd turn it on. Might as well. I think that the combat system's not the most sophisticated anyway; you're not doing yourself an unrealistic service by keeping it on, seeing as the whole combat system's not too realistic to begin with lol

I think it depends on the weapon as to whether the option should be on or off. With many weapons, all three attacks do similar damage so you might want to leave if off for a bit of variety. For weapons where there is a significant difference between the attacks, I would turn it on. I'm assuming your character is fairly skilled with their weapon of choice and therefore should have figured out that you don't thrust with an axe or slash with a spear.

However, the way the "always use best attack" option works is a little weird so I'll explain it. The iron longsword does between 1 and 18 damage for a slash. The exact amount of damage that it will do depends on your backswing (or how far you draw the string back for marksman weapons etc.). With no backswing, it does 1 damage, and with a full backswing, it does 18 damage. With most (all?) weapons, and the iron longsword is no exception, you're far better off taking a full backswing. Despite this, the "always use best attack" option assumes you're not backswinging at all and selects the attack that's best with no backswing. The damage values for the iron longsword are:
Chop: 2−13
Slash: 1−18
Thrust: 4−16
So having "always use best attack" on when you're using an iron longsword means that you will always be trusting, despite slash being a superior attack for any sensible player. For most weapons, "always use best attack" really does select the best attack, and when it doesnt, the difference is always fairly small. Good to be aware of it though.

Just use the full back swing. Don't ever not.

Unless your using a spear, I tend to find turning it off adds a bit more variation. Simply seeing the same attack all the time starts to really irritate me after awhile...

I can definitely see turning it on for spears as practical, but I can also see it as annoying. I think that I'd personally go with turning it on just because, if you really did have a spear, you really would just thrust with it (and throw in a slash or chop in there every once in a while, just so that he knows who's in charge).

An then when your spear breaks from being smashed on metal armour run like a little girl. That is tactics.

Yes. That's exactly what I was going for lol