For all you two handers out there.

[hoodedrobin]

You know, i voted greatsword and usually prefer the greatsword... but i recently ive been using the dawnguard warhammer! That thing is BEAST! That warhammer takes a close, and i do mean a close second place.

[DikaSmausha]

Warhammer is to slow for me.

[Br3admax]

That battleaxe dragon kill-cam, is the most badass thing I have ever seen in Skyrim, ever.

[DikaSmausha]

I love that execution.

[Br3admax]

How exactly can we hold a dragon's mouth shut, and move its head up, and then jump in the air, and kill it, crushing its head. (By the way, post this in the logic thread.)

[Hissien]

Their mouth doesnt open "up" only down. Or if nothing else they only have like 20lb per square inch like crocs do when opening their mouth.

[Br3admax]

But you can hold it close, pull up their heads, and then jump. Finally driving an ax in their head, how does that work?

[Hissien]

I dont know i have never fought a real dragon before to draw the conclusion.

[Br3admax]

I dont know i have never fought a real dragon before to draw the conclusion.

I have and the burns are terrible. Takes weeks to heal, but once you jump on top( ) you just pull, pull, and jump. Then you swing down with full force.

[GoatLiver]

Warhammer is to slow for me.

See I like Warhammers and I compensate for the speed by doing running power attacks and/or the sprinting attack that does double critical. If you start it before you are in range of your opponent then it pretty much cannot be stopped and takes out the factor of speed.

[SithisIsMyCopilot]

Stop, warHammertime! The best thing is when sprinting charge triggers your enemies "Hey, what's the hurry?!" dialogue as you're smashing their heads like a watermelon.

[Travalanche]

Claymore's rock, best weapon EVAR! Forget Katanas when you have access to an authentic scottish claymore. I mean William Wallace had the right idea, it's long enough that you don't need a shield and powerful enough to chop a man in half (unarmored of course). I do love Battleaxes and Warhammers as well and I would pick a battleaxe irl if facing an enemy with steel plate but if going up against enemies in Leather or below which was the case for most armies and is the same for TES in most cases a Claymore is a better choice.

Warhammers have great burst damage but I don't see how I could swing them all day without passing out, I would use them if I were a very buff Nord but for my Khajiit there is no way lol. Also many people claim the warhammer is too slow but truthfully it isn't THAT bad when it comes to speed, it just means a better button mashing/damage ratio which is nice for prolonged gaming.

I think 1 handed maces and 2 handed swords have the most "comfortable" and natural speed though out of all weapons in my opinion which is why I use them the most, I like medium speed weapons though and 1 handed swords seem a bit too fast in this game.

[Alarra]

Skyforge Steel Greatsword. I've got a speedy sort of character; she's got light armor and everything, so I stick with swords rather than maces and axes and warhammers and whatnot. Easier for me to deal some quick damage and get out of the way rather than be a sitting duck while I'm in the middle of a big swing.

[Alnevar Odai]

Greatsword, obviously. The other two feels more of tools rather than weapons, but hey that's my view and no offense meant.

I agree, and generally, the Greatswords can get out more damage per second, at least when I use them.

Longhammer and daedric warhammer have the most DPM in Vanilla.

As for the "tools" aspect. Warhammers were used in the 15th century. The Point was used to piece armor. The Hammer was used to knock cavalrymen off their horses and break a horse's cannons (knee)

Battleaxes were used as thrown weapons and cavalry axes by the Franks

Spoiler:

[Herr Deichmann]

What is your preferred weapon?

I usually carry at least 1 of each type around and change depending on the enemy that I fight, however my favourite is probably the Warhammer. I think the perks for Warhammers that take away armor on the enemies are better than the equivalent on the other weapon types, and I also like the extra damage . As for looks I think the Rueful axe is pretty cool defiantly my favoured Battleaxe. Lots of the Greatswords look good I think the Iron is one of the best along with Daedric. IMO not many of the Warhammers are really visually pleasing, I think I like Dwarven the most, it actually looks like its got a solid weight to it and I like the shape.

Also as a bonus question do you play in first or third person? I have traditionally played in first person in all Elder Scrolls games but the fight mechanics and animations in Skyrim have made me change to third, though I do find I miss targets more often though.

Quite simply, no. Those negate-a-certain-percentage-of-armor perks are absolutely worthless. Most humanoid enemies don't have such a high armor rating that these perks would be useful. Instead, their health is buffed to compensate for lack of armor, hence the reason why some enemies take forever to kill. If I recall correctly, pretty much ALL non-humanoids do not have armor. Draugr do not have armor either. Add the fact that bandits don't exactly have good armor - and thus a high AR - and you just wasted 3 perks. Sorry to bust your bubble.

The battleaxe bleeding effect is equally worthless, especially in the long run. It only does a little bit of extra damage, and it doesn't exactly suit high-damage dealing two-handed weapons to be honest. Would've wanted these perks for weapons like daggers, but not 2hw.

So, that leaves us with better criticals for greatswords and those perks are worthwhile, and very noticable in game. Also, with the higher speed of greatswords, you can also expect to get a critical sooner than, say, a warhammer. In terms of overall usefulness and power, the Deadric Greatsword is the best, despite the fact that Deadric warhammers and battleaxes deal abit more damage.

Anyway, that's the only reason why I prefer greatswords over battleaxes. In terms of 'looks' and awesomeness, I prefer battleaxes. Wuuthrad is my most-favorite weapon because it looks awesome and deals EXTRA damage to Elves.

[GoatLiver]

Quite simply, no. Those negate-a-certain-percentage-of-armor perks are absolutely worthless. Most humanoid enemies don't have such a high armor rating that these perks would be useful. Instead, their health is buffed to compensate for lack of armor, hence the reason why some enemies take forever to kill. If I recall correctly, pretty much ALL non-humanoids do not have armor. Draugr do not have armor either. Add the fact that bandits don't exactly have good armor - and thus a high AR - and you just wasted 3 perks. Sorry to bust your bubble.

The battleaxe bleeding effect is equally worthless, especially in the long run. It only does a little bit of extra damage, and it doesn't exactly suit high-damage dealing two-handed weapons to be honest. Would've wanted these perks for weapons like daggers, but not 2hw.

So, that leaves us with better criticals for greatswords and those perks are worthwhile, and very noticable in game. Also, with the higher speed of greatswords, you can also expect to get a critical sooner than, say, a warhammer. In terms of overall usefulness and power, the Deadric Greatsword is the best, despite the fact that Deadric warhammers and battleaxes deal abit more damage.

Hi there, while it is true that most enemies do not have a high armour rating as per vanilla Skyrim, I still believe the perks that take away armour to be the best. Allow me to explain why. As you may already know from your previous post the bleeding damage from axes is a set amount based on what the weapon type (material) is, it does not include upgrades to your weapon. So a daedric axe (1 Handed) will cause 18 points total damage extra over the 6 seconds. Like wise a swords critical effect is taken from the base damage, so a daedric sword (again 1 Handed) will have an extra 20% chance to only do 10.5 extra points of damage. For both of these weapons upgrading the damage through enchanting, smithing or perks won't effect how strong the bonus is.

However the bonus for hammers effects the effectiveness of an enemies armour. The most armour an NPC would have is 117 for a full suit of daedric armour. Based on an armour rating of 567 giving 80% damage reduction a rating of 117 would give roughly 16% reduction in damage. The perk to ignore armour 75% would take that damage reduction down to just 4%. So if your hammer was doing 200 damage then the NPC's armour takes it down to 168 on the full 16% reduction, but with the perks that make it 4% its up at 192, that is 24 extra damage. Unlike swords that have 20% chance, axes and hammers do that extra damage every hit, and unlike axes, hammers bonus is instant not over time. Also as your weapon damage increase so does the amount of benefit.

The other reasons I like this perk is that some mods for Skyrim (if you are on PC) give armour to thing that don't normally have it, dragons for example, making it much more useful. Last reason is when an NPC has this perk they will take a player at the armour cap resisting 80% damage down to resisting only 20% damage and is the reason Bandit Chiefs with warhammers can often catch players unaware and even 1-shot high level characters.

Anyway, that's the only reason why I prefer greatswords over battleaxes. In terms of 'looks' and awesomeness, I prefer battleaxes. Wuuthrad is my most-favorite weapon because it looks awesome and deals EXTRA damage to Elves.

I really like the kill-cam for the greatsword that beheads the enemy probably my main reason to use a greatsword. I think battleaxes are the best for barbarian looking weapons and general awesomeness, Wuuthrad is pretty epic and so to is the Rueful axe.

[Herr Deichmann]

Hi there, while it is true that most enemies do not have a high armour rating as per vanilla Skyrim, I still believe the perks that take away armour to be the best. Allow me to explain why. As you may already know from your previous post the bleeding damage from axes is a set amount based on what the weapon type (material) is, it does not include upgrades to your weapon. So a daedric axe (1 Handed) will cause 18 points total damage extra over the 6 seconds. Like wise a swords critical effect is taken from the base damage, so a daedric sword (again 1 Handed) will have an extra 20% chance to only do 10.5 extra points of damage. For both of these weapons upgrading the damage through enchanting, smithing or perks won't effect how strong the bonus is.

Ah, well I guess I'm wrong on that part then. I thought critical hits were depending on the actual amount of damage your weapon is currently able to deliver, not its base damage.

However the bonus for hammers effects the effectiveness of an enemies armour. The most armour an NPC would have is 117 for a full suit of daedric armour. Based on an armour rating of 567 giving 80% damage reduction a rating of 117 would give roughly 16% reduction in damage. The perk to ignore armour 75% would take that damage reduction down to just 4%. So if your hammer was doing 200 damage then the NPC's armour takes it down to 168 on the full 16% reduction, but with the perks that make it 4% its up at 192, that is 24 extra damage. Unlike swords that have 20% chance, axes and hammers do that extra damage every hit, and unlike axes, hammers bonus is instant not over time. Also as your weapon damage increase so does the amount of benefit.

Two flaws here. The most common armor-wearing enemy are bandits, but it ain't like you'll find them all clad in deadric armor. The average armor rating would be around 40-50 I guess, making the armor negating perks pretty useless overall. And like I said earlier, Draugr - possibly the second-most common, if not the most common enemy in the game - have no armor, much like dragons, all animals and even mages. On top of the extra speed, the greatsword is able to deal the extra damage to any enemy - armor-wearing or not.

The other reasons I like this perk is that some mods for Skyrim (if you are on PC) give armour to thing that don't normally have it, dragons for example, making it much more useful. Last reason is when an NPC has this perk they will take a player at the armour cap resisting 80% damage down to resisting only 20% damage and is the reason Bandit Chiefs with warhammers can often catch players unaware and even 1-shot high level characters.

If I recall correctly, NPC's do not have perks in vanilla Skyrim. Unless you are referring to those mods of course. I know that T3ndo's SkyrimRedone adds perks to enemies. Got suprised more than once because of it. But then again, Chiefs generally suprise me.

I really like the kill-cam for the greatsword that beheads the enemy probably my main reason to use a greatsword. I think battleaxes are the best for barbarian looking weapons and general awesomeness, Wuuthrad is pretty epic and so to is the Rueful axe.

They are all awesome in the end. Wish they had some better kill-cam animations for the warhammer though.

__________

Also, I always play in third person when I have a warrior-type character, especially when I'm a 2hw wielder. It's alot easier to guide sprinting attacks, plus you have a bigger overview of the battlefield. Especially useful when engaging multiple enemies at the same time, as you can see better where the attacks are coming from. Does anyone else do this kind of thing?

[GoatLiver]

Two flaws here. The most common armor-wearing enemy are bandits, but it ain't like you'll find them all clad in deadric armor. The average armor rating would be around 40-50 I guess, making the armor negating perks pretty useless overall. And like I said earlier, Draugr - possibly the second-most common, if not the most common enemy in the game - have no armor, much like dragons, all animals and even mages. On top of the extra speed, the greatsword is able to deal the extra damage to any enemy - armor-wearing or not.

...If I recall correctly, NPC's do not have perks in vanilla Skyrim. Unless you are referring to those mods of course. I know that T3ndo's SkyrimRedone adds perks to enemies. Got suprised more than once because of it. But then again, Chiefs generally suprise me.

...Also, I always play in third person when I have a warrior-type character, especially when I'm a 2hw wielder. It's alot easier to guide sprinting attacks, plus you have a bigger overview of the battlefield. Especially useful when engaging multiple enemies at the same time, as you can see better where the attacks are coming from. Does anyone else do this kind of thing?

Yeah the armor rating of NPC's in vanilla is pretty low and its rare you would see anything in daedric quality, but NPC's can definitely have perks in vanilla Skyrim and some even related to armour. The higher level Forsworn for example have both the matching set and custom fit perks from the light armour tree. That would make their armour rating around 78, the hardened Falmer armour gives about 65 for the full set but they don't have the perks. Mages sometimes use their mage armour and interestingly enough if they cast a high enough level spell would have more armour than other NPC's.

No real need to work out the percentages right now, I thing we can agree that overall the perks that are weapon specific are all pretty lackluster. Also I have taken to playing in 3rd person when I am in combat which is something I rarely do in games when I am given a choice between 1st and 3rd perspectives. I really only like it for the animations I'm still a 1st person player at heart, I never ever used 3rd person in Oblivion or Morrowind. It has actually taken me about 3 or more different characters in Skyrim before I decided to try out 3rd person.

[Alnevar Odai]

I dont know about the "scope out the battlefield" part but I will swap between 1st and 3rd. I usually go third when I am fighting animals. The kill move animations look silly in 1st person. (Like grabbing a wolf, the spin move on saber cats, et cetera...)

I typically narrow fights to 1 v 1 by drawing masses into tunnel heads so 1st person is all you need. And playing no-hud makes archery hard in 3rd person. Using a crossbow in 1st is hard enough without the crosshairs.

As for relation to two handed... most of the 2H kills are better in 3rd (like the headbutt, the decapitation, and the swing realism, not to mention it is awesome to see yourself hit multiple people at once with one swing)