i can't believe i couldnt google this through.

anyone knows how much damage you do when u get a critical hit?!
if i dont know this info than how can i chose the perks that give more critical chance and damage?!

thanks for any help.

I don't think anyone knows the exact amount, it varys. Just take the perk, it does alot.

It does a critical amount of damage.

I guess you can just think of it as a fatal or near fatal blow for your average arrow fodder, and a big chunk of change for tougher ones.

Just get them.

Do not spend points into weapon spec perks, they are lame. I don't want to post any spoilers/raw data here in the discussion forum, but let's just say that critical damage is applied as a percentage of base weapon damage and does not scale with skill/improvements or anything else. Bleed damage from axes is also a flat number, but at least it stacks with itself... problem is, it's a low number and does not help that much -- also doesn't work on undead/spirits/atronachs or anything else that does not have blood. Armor penetration from maces would be awesome, but very few enemies use armor. No natural critters (not even dragons) have an armor rating above zero.

I hope I haven't said too much... I just wanted to get my point across. Spend perks on something else besides weapon specialization.
-Loth

Pfff. What do you wanna listen too? This guys funny numbers or the cold hard facts that I laid out?

Yeah, I know.

LOL @ Robotmilk

You sound like you're from Brooklyn... please don't take that the wrong way.
-Loth

lothario - what do you mean "you dont want to spoil too much?!"

spoil ahead if you know the numbers. where did u get your info from, mate?
if critical attacks to 130% damage than no thanks. i'll save my perk for something else. if they do 200% or more than i'll go for them.

and how much is bleeding and armor penetrations?! this info seems imperative! i cant believe it's still unknown.

Let's put it this way: With Legendary Daedric Sword, 100 One-handed and 5/5 Armsman you do 72 damage per swing.

Taking three levels of Bladesman gives you 20% chance to deal additional 7(yes, seven) damage.

I assume criticals for bows are equally worthless.

Not so, bow criticals can be extremely deadly. I did the quest in the barrow of Gavriks tomb, and that boss was a 2 shot kill. Now wait a moe and let me explain it. First shot was a sneak attack for 3x damage which took his HP down by roughly 1/6th. The 2nd shot was a sneak attack critical which killed him outright. So that was 5/6ths of his health in one shot from a sneak attack critical. Thats a fair bit of damage difference, and not merely a few points.

Now the wiki and such may say its not so good on paper. However in practice it has been extremely effective for me on Master.

I don't know the exact numbers, but whenever I crit with my swords the health bar of the enemy shows a lot of extra damage... definitely nowhere near the +10% bcs said, more like +100%...

I think normal critical hits do half the base damage on top of the damage stated, so its barely anything. Not really worth it.

Indeed. In the case I outlined above, the critical was able to multiply the damage from my bow to an extreme amount well beyond the previous shots damage. Way beyond the simple 10% increase the wiki outlines. its entirely possible that Beth have changed the combat formula since 1.1, which might be why they broke resistances in 1.2 so badly.

The bleeding damage isn't worth it, it is so minimal at high levels it's a waste of perks. The mace perks ignore 25%, 50% then 75% depending on the perks, this sounds great. But in reality at high levels enemies have huge amounts of health rather than high damage resistance.

It's not unknown, a bunch of us in the Spoilers forum have done extensive in-game testing of all these (and many many other things). See the thread(s) below:
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1317202-complete-character-design-freedom-damage-resist-caps-and-ridiculous-damage-thread-8/

That link is just the latest thread out of a series of eight so far. If y'all read through them, you might be surprised at what you learn about Skyrim.
-Loth

Edit: As an aside, I have personally found errors in the UESP wiki concerning Skyrim, and don't even get me started about the loading tips in-game. Some of those "tips" are flat-out wrong. One example: a 2H sword does not swing faster than a 2H axe -- they swing the same speed. Test it for yourself, and you'll see. All the things we've posted in those threads are reproducible by you, as we lay out the testing procedures and post the results that you can duplicate on your own if you wish. If you want to become a contributor in our series, come on over and help out however you like... plus, we are more than happy to answer any questions you have.