I'm having some difficulty understanding the combat system in Skyrim. I probably was a little bit spoiled by the great combat of Dark Souls...so I REALLY don't get the combat system in this game.

Some questions:

For one, what is the main point in/ and differences between bashing and power bashing?
What's the benefit of the slowdown block perk? and Do I get some ability to counter them better if I do that?
Sometimes I attack an enemy and I bash them with my weapon when they're blocking...but they keep blocking, and I can do it over and over with no real visible effect. What is the point in that?
Sometimes I block an enemy's attack and he'll just knock down my shield! What the hell! Can someone explain that to me as well?
Sometimes I block an enemy's attack and they recoil, but sometimes not...what are the stipulations behind this? Is it random?

If someone can please help explain the rules of this game's combat I would be extremely appreciative...because right now I'm just button mashing, and button mashing combat isn't that fun.

1) Power attacks do more damage and have a chance to stagger an opponent, at the cost of Stamina.

2) Not sure; I don't use shields.

3) Stop your assault for a moment and attack them when they open themselves up to it. Why would you just waste effort on someone blocking you?

4) Power Attacks from the enemy can still stagger you if you're blocking. There may be a perk to stop it, but again, I don't use shields.

5) See item 1.

^ This...the game has more realistic blocking mechanics than Oblivion did. If you block an attack people don't just automatically stagger back 5 feet, and if you feel like going into angry Luke Skywalker mode you can just keep bashing someone who is blocking into submission.

yeah and you can power bash through a block, which is likely what happened to your shield when it got knocked down...

I'm in the same boat. Just came from Dark Souls and the combat in Skyrim feels like I'm back in the primitive days of gaming again... ugh. You just don't "feel" the combat in Skyrim like you do in DS. Too bad Bethesda couldn't just buy/license the combat system from Dark Souls. It'd be a damned-near perfect game. I'm only level 7 right now - shield + sword - and I also feel like I dunno what I'm doing. I block with the shield and my movement becomes SO slow I can barely move. If I take a hit, I lose almost all my stamina somehow. I drop my shield and swing twice, but due to the lack of combat feedback/animation, I have no clue if I've hit, save for the health bar getting lower. I'm really not a big fan of the combat in this game. My friend is playing 100% ranged magic and it seems to be working for him. I don't see this as "learning a new game" so much as training myself to not be so immersed in combat after playing Dark Souls. Sad.

Shield bash when enemies are about to power attack, you'll stagger them.

Okay I'll try this.

As for number 3, I'm just used to Dark Souls stuff I guess. In that game, blocking is great, but the downside to blocking too
much is that your guard WILL be broken by an onslaught. And then you will be wide open for other attacks.



I'm thinking that I'll probably mess around with making a Dark Souls-esque combat mod if I have the time. This game has a lot of the "hard to make" features already: (recoil animations, shield parrying, kill animations, etc) so it can probably be done. I'm really not feeling the combat as is though, feels too clunky...