Currently, I'm using dagger+sword, but I'm contemplating switching to dual daggers, but I'm not really sure yet. Any pros and cons to using dual daggers as opposed to dagger+sword?

The only time daggers are good is sneaking.

I'd go with what you're using now.

Depends...

If you're specialising in Sneak then I'd take dual daggers eventually. There's a perk which does 15 times damage with knives as opposed to swords.

BUT... Swords in general are stronger. And daggers don't benefit from all the one-handed perks, if I recall rightly.

what abotu sword + sword?

whats the best combination for most amount of damage ?

If you have all dual wield perks that make your hits faster and the perk that make your daul wield power attack hit for more and and are an assassin kind of character it's no doubt you should dual wield daggers. I do and that the only weapon i dual wield with becaus i think anything else is to slow. But if not (or in early game) you may want to keep dagger/sword.

But remember that Armsman perk increas dmg on dagger too, so the dagger will do good dmg and their speed will out weigh the extra dmg in the sword imho

You may also want to consider reach. I don't know how big of a difference it actually is between swords & daggers, but I would guess swords allow you to keep actually hitting stuff when you do a double power attack.

That has been a concern with my Khajiit. He uses claws sometimes, but often whiffs because enemies are just out of range - and once you've committed to that power attack, it's too late to cancel it. With weapons (usually dagger + war axe), I'm much more sure of hitting.

Not to derail the thread, but this is one reason I miss my 2-hander Nord barbarian. His greatsword was very slow, but I almost never had to worry about whiffing, and it was easy to redirect that forward power attack.

I use dagger + sword for backstabbing at the moment, but usally just use the dagger for the strike (Mehrune's Razor). When I get into a melee situation outside of stealth (well, I usually try to get away, because my character's not a fair-fight kind of gal, but sometimes there's no where to run), I use sword plus sowrd (ebony + nightingale blade).

Once I find a really good second dagger, that will go in the secondary for backstabs.

Mace+Mace



The Perk that ignores armor defence is deadly against dragons/bandits/anything with an armor rating

that's the problem i hade before i started to use dual daggers, 2 swords are to slow (or even sword + dagger). With 2 daggers and perks you can get close and hit the enemy and get out of his reach before he can hit you back, always move when dual wielding daggers. And they work great out side stealth give it a try. (and it's good with the perk that makes so your armor don't encomber you so you can move faster)

When it comes to reach in power attacks it just take som practice to hit them, personally i try to hit them from behinde the enemy so they cant hit me and most turn to face you. And if you get the slow time shout and use dual wield daggers you can do some insanse dmg be4 anyone knows what happend.

But remember to put more than 1 point in the armsman perk if dual wield daggers, becaus you can use the extra dmg when fighting out side stealth since the daggers have low base dmg. And until you get dark bortherhood gloves it help in instant assassination, with them you can one hit giants in stealth

Double sword with Bladesman perk.


Things will suddenly just drop dead as soon as you start hitting them. Even whole, giant chunks of the HP bars of tougher enemies can basically vaporize on an instant when engaging them.


Swords are also faster, so it's easier to dodge and move & strike with them.


A sword in your main hand is must have.

Then you can maybe have a heavier weapon, like mace or axe in your left hand, but I prefer 2x swords if I want to optimize my character.

I wouldn't say swords are a most have, 2 daggers are faster than swords and imo better than 2 swords

Do you guys use a power attack when back stabbing or just a normal one? Wont a power attack alert them to your presense?

I suppose that is your opinion, but the swords have longer reach, higher damage, and bladesman perks. So duel-weilding is better with them. Daggers are better for sneak.

Against "normal" enemies i do normal attacks (dunno if a power attack triggers a assassination animation) but against for exampel giants or other "boss" creatuers i start with a power attack and most of the time it does not alert them but it takes longer to hit and sometimes they "start" to notice you when you start the attack so sometimes you don't get the back stab bonus but most of the time you will get it. That is with daggers, dunno how it works with other weapons

you do not need the reach when using dagger, and the dmg with daggers is fine with perks (perk for 10%-30% crit chans work on dagger too afaik) you do not need the little extra dmg you get from swords. And yes i have always asumed we talked about a stealth char but daggers would work fine with other chars too. The only place swords maybe are better are in early game

Then let me correct you- bladesman's crit chance does not work for dagger. Also all one-hand damage enhancements do not include daggers- they only include swords and maces. For someone who is not hiding, or any build that is using the enhancements/perks, swords will come out ahead, daggers are ahead only in sneak hit cases.

mace + mace and elemental fury. only for da real menz

For speed:

- I was under the impression that dual attack speed was dependent on your offhand weapon speed. So the ideal setup would be Mace + Dagger in a pure melee situation, disregarding the axe, sword, mace specific perks. Is this not true?

For sneak

- Daggers benefit from one-hand perks but not one-hand enchants. Even at 30x backstab damage if you have any item with a one-handed enchant swords, maces, and axes at 12x will outdamage daggers. If the problem is speed, then wouldn't the ideal setup be mace in mainhand, dagger in offhand, and use dual attack when sneak attacking?

Axe+Axe

Smack em hard then stand back and watch them bleed to death.

If only you could duel weild the small hammers, you could probably nail a Drauger back into his coffin so fast he didn't even know he was out of it.

have they change the crit in a patch? haven't played in a long time (played to much sw:tor ) but want to remember it work for daggers too at launch. And i'm not talking about one hand dmg enhancements in general i'm talking about the armsman perk than increas dmg for you one handed weapons which work on dagger, but than again it's been long since i played so they may have patched that out as well.

and just wondering doesn't one-handed dmg enhancements count for axes?

Nothing I mentioned has been changed/modified in a patch. It has been that way since release- yes I forgot axes- they are included in one-hand dmg enhancements.

I use two swords for all combat in my rouge character, when in stealth i pull out a dagger.

that's wierd i heard from several places that crit counts on daggers, but armsman perk works on dagger's dmg right? otherwise my game is really screwd up

I personally use Mace/Sword your offhand controls the speed of your dual attacks so technically mace/dagger would be best but i don't like the range of daggers because I often fight in third person.

Wow, what??? A dagger is a one-handed weapon and should benefit from one-handed perks. Can anyone confirm this??!