I'm a level 35 Orcish sword and boarder playing on expert and I've been doubting how useful the power attacks really are. You can react to the enemy's actions a lot faster if you're just doing regular swings by dodging blocking and shield bashing. So far it seems to me like the damage per second does not increase substantially by using power attacks either. What I basically do is hit as fast as I can while they are open, try to block normal hits, dodge enemy power hits and shield bash enemy mages to interrupt their spell casting. This has been working very well, and every time I'm trying to use power attacks it ends up less effective than my current play style. My current play style also require a lot less stamina, so I can put most points into health.

I can see how the power attacks will become better when I get the paralyze blow, and it is probably different for 2-handers and dual wielders, but is it really worth power attacking in my situation? Or may I just as well continue spamming fast actions?

It does more damage and staggers the enemy, so it's really worth it.

My level 30 orc with a Deadra 2-handed axe kills just about anything with one power attack.

I can safely say I have fought several enemies I would not have killed without power attacks. And I know, because I tried killing them dozens of ways and power attacks+luck were the only thing that worked.

its worth it for the one-off decapitations.

But you can interrupt them with a shield bash too, which is a lot faster and protects you at the same time. I would imagine that power attacks are a little better with a 2-hander though. To start with a power attack seems good since it also have a gap closer and you don't have to worry too much about getting hit when you're approaching.

I was just gonna start a post on this. Thanks for starting one.

My question is I unlocked the powerbash perk for blocking. How do I use it.

Oh, they are definitely worthwhile. My dual wield Khajiit can kill most enemies by power attacking with both swords at once (dual wielding gives me a lot of variety, including three different standing power attacks complete with different animations and different utility: left, right and both). Since I've got the Dual Savagery perk (+50% damage bonus to dual wield power attacks) and that one perk that adds a +25% bonus to one handed standing power attack damage, I'm essentially getting a 75% bonus to my standing power attacks...and when I use both hands for one, you strike your enemy three times :toughninja:

Not only is the damage I deal outstanding, but power attacks are useful for throwing the enemy off balance, especially since I'm lightly armored, don't have a shield and focused on stamina growth. Gotta be wise about which hand to use in the middle of combat, too.



On that note, I've got a problem: since getting that perk, I've noticed that the only time I get decapitations is when I kill with regular attacks, not power attacks. I've experimented a lot, and this is always the case. I never decapitate with a power attack, and only do so with regular ones. Any idea why? Also, my buddy (who is a mage) said he's decapitated enemies using his conjured swords without any one handed perks, but I don't think I decapitated anyone UNTIL I had the perk. What's going on here?

Took me a bit too find out too since nothing is ever explained ingame or in the manual. When you are actively blocking, hit your attack button.

On my berserker (non profession character) I have to dish out as many power attacks in a short amount of time before I get over whelmed. Regular attacks just don't cut it once you reach the 30s. It's basically for me power attack + 5, drink stam pots, and power attack spam again hoping they die before I do. Now mind you not every fight is like that of course, most I end up needing to be creative lol

I am talking about power attacks for a sword and shield user. The difference is that the shield bash has some many uses that I think it makes power attacks unnecessary, as well as the power attack bonus for dual wielders.

To the person asking about power shield bash, I only use normal shield bash, which you do by holding down right mouse button and clicking the left one. I guess the power attack version is just to hold the button down longer, but I didn't spec it because I found the normal shield bash good enough for interrupts.

Stagger is worth it

While holding up the shield with the right mouse button (blocking) just hit the left mouse button (attack) and you will use your shield to bash the enemy. Before getting the perk you could do something similar but it was only useful for backing an enemy up, now you can do damage with it and put opponents off balance.

Power attacks with a two-handed weapon on anything but Novice or Adept level are pure trash. It's also pretty stupid to say junk about Daedric weapons as though you start with them. The two-handed power attack is so slow and once you start it, it better connect or you're going to get hit multiple times. Even when it does connect, half of the time it doesn't stagger and the enemy two-handed user plows right through it, doing more damage than you did simply because you made the mistake of doing anything other than auto attacking.

Dual-Wielding or single sword power attacks are totally worth it though. It's practically the only reason to even use Dual-Wield in the first place since the auto attacks are identical to sword and shield.

Sounds like good advice. I haven't tried two handed weapons, so I was just guessing. I still find myself a bit open when I'm charging up for a power attack. Hopefully it will help when I get the "no weight" perk for heavy armour, since it will let me move around a bit faster.

This. This all day.

*thief runs up*

"Right, hand over your gold"

"Um....No" *SWISH, decapitate*

"WHITEBENCH YOU ILLEGITIMATE CHILD, I'M THE DADDY NOW!!! YETI, OVER!!!" [/old english film quotes]

Ok thanks. I was doing that all along. I just didnt know if there was another button to hit because I was expecting this dramatic performance and all I got was exactly what you said, a enhanced version of bashing.