The other day my character (2 handed fighter) almost got his butt handed to him by a Silver Hand armed with a Dwarven Dagger and a Steel Shield. Because of this I plan on trying this fighting style out. Has anyone else used this style or come up against it? I had to spam potions to win. It seemed every swing I did, she did five. She used the shield effectively too.

Yes. I fight like that all the time. Works great. I use Valdr's Lucky Dagger, though. The critical hit chance really does work, plus it still gets Elemental Fury. Without exploits it can be smith'ed well north of 100 damage.

Typically i come across bandit marauders or chiefs with this combo. It's a bit unrealistic because every time I fight one of them I get the impression their dagger has the same 'reach' as a sword which bugs me to no end. I haven't looked at the code or anything to know for sure but it seems that way to me, but yeah... they're a bit of a pain to take down on master.

I don't like shields. Not my thing.... But I LOVE dual-wielding daggers - until I have to actually look at the animations. *sigh*

I remember hearing that daggers do not benefit from one-handed armsman perk. It surprised me. But it probably doesn't matter to people whose characters have reached 100 smithing and enchanting.

The Silver Hand didn't have my reach, but it didn't matter once she blocked a swing and moved in. I couldn't keep her out. My next character will use this combo. I'll RPG a Thracian style gladiator who is also a thief. [Have to maintain the life style between fights.] He/she will have run away to Skyrim to escape some baddies after not losing a fight he/she should have.

Thanks for the replies.

The best thing to do with a sword and board character is get 100% Fortify Destruction gear and enchant your weapon, whatever it may be, with Absorb Health/Stamina. You can then alternate between Deadly Bash and a standard attack nonstop without giving your enemy a chance to recover. Also, because you will always absorb enough stamina to Bash an opponent/perform a power attack, you can put ALL your points into Health.

Not my style. I don't like abusing enchanting or smithing. Thanks for the info though.

Well, the fortify gear may not appeal but you don't need it. Just a few points of absorb stamina, no perks in enchanting required, and you can use that very effective technique. Deadly bash can do 60ish damage while keeping you enemy staggered. Even without any enchanting at all, you can use it with respite Restoration perk.

Yeah, I'm not big on shields either. I generally keep a dagger in my off hand, but use swords in my right.

You should switch them around. Whats in the right hand sets the speed for both hands and the dagger attacks are faster.

No. You got that backwards.

From the UESP wiki:


"The speed of a dual-wielding attack/power attack is based on the weight of the left-hand weapon. The stamina cost of a dual-wielding power attack is determined by the weight of your right-hand weapon ("weapon weight" in the power attack formula). Therefore, all other things being equal, it is optimal to have a dagger in your off-hand. However, using the same type of weapon in both hands will likely allow more efficient use of perks. Your main hand swings about 15% faster than your off-hand."