As a stealth character i can safely say i have only used the detect life shout. The rest i've not used nor have any desire to use.

Clear Skies and Detect Life sound pretty cool. I didn't get far enough with my first character (save game corruption) to acquire them.

See, if dragon shouts were a special kind of magic- the ability to fiddle with nature- and excluded things that normal magic is there for- fire, speed, et cetera- I'd probably use them more, because they'd be more interesting, and therefore more memorable.

They could have been better than they are. The cool down period takes too long, which means you get used to not using them.

I hardly ever use them. Sometimes when a draugr deathlord uses unrelenting force on me I think "oh yeah, I can do that too - so I might as well", and usually get them back with a more powerful version.

But otherwise they don't really feature in my play style, which is a mixture of magic and one handed

This and I used Dragonrend once towards the end. Otherwise, I have a ton of souls still.

For my stealth char, I use 1 shout all the time, aura whisper, that thing is darn useful. I also use marked for death when I'm fighting dragons or boss enemies, makes them go down a lot easier. Other than those two though I don't really use any other shouts (except for one time I Fus Roh Dah'd a snow bear off a cliff).

Har! I know exactly what you mean. Another good use is when your follower can't find a way to actually follow you i.e. rocks are in the way...the fall is too far, you got where you are from jumping along a rock face, etc. My followers keep getting stuck...I mean wedged into the rock and such...one good shout and they are flying across to the other side of the dungeon...free to dust off their armor and resume following me.

I actually keep forgetting that I have that. It comes in handy against the Dwemer machines especially the really big ones...it staggers them so you can get in those 2 or 3 power strokes needed to even the odds. Even after 100 hours I really haven't used my dragon souls to "purchase" new shouts.

My 1H+shield warrior uses shouts all the time in combat. Typically Fire or Frost Breath. Its great for a combination of incremental damage + stagger, especially when fighting multiple enemies. I use a certain piece of jewelry to reduce time between shouts, so I can shout many times per encounter (especially during fights w/dragons or high-end draugr).

I use Unrelenting Force all the time.

I use mine mostly by accident when I hit the shout bumper instead of run... Guards love me!

I rarely remember to use shouts. I have a developed style of combat for my characters and by the time you get shouts, there rarely are needed. Only in those few combats where you have to consume most of your resources and pull out every trick you have to win do I end up shouting.

I had the impression, that the shouts are more like a 1 time trump card per fight, because the cooldown is so ridiculously high if you use the Tier3 shouts that it's only useable 1 to max 2 times per fight. The only shout which has a good use in combat and a reasonable cooldown is "Dragenrend" which helped alot against those Dragons who simply didn't want to land on the ground.

The famous Fus-Ro-Da shout is the most useful in combat imo as is throws most enemies to the ground or at least disorients them for 2 seconds, giving you the opportunity to achieve a quick kill or free damage.

The "Fire Breath" Shout for instance, i thought this has so much power that your target bursts into fiery flames, but it's not the case. Even the Tier3 briasts doesn't even tickle the tougher enemies, and they are not really on fire merely flame up for 2 seconds and that's it.

I have shouts bound to M4 (mouse button 4; yes I'm using a Logitech G5) because having it there feels more natural than having it on the Z key where it's hard to reach. And I like having all my attacks bound to the mouse and my keyboard is used for movement and inventory\conversation. Also it helps me remember that I have shouts and that they're only a mouse button click away.

Using this setup I've "programmed" myself to use shouts along with my other attacks.

In all fairness, not all guys like Tier 3 briasts, so not all of them are going to get fired up about them. Some prefer Tier 2 or Tier 1 briasts. If you know what I mean ...

I only use shouts in dire situations.
Clear Skies can be a good, fast recharging shout to replace Unrelenting Force.

I use the throw voice shout all the time on my dual wielding assassin type character. My mage usually forgets I have shouts.

I use dragonrend all the time, why watch a dragon fly around for minutes when you can shout him to the ground and fire arrows at him
Unrelenting force is also very usefull, both as an offensive weapon(throwing enemies off cliffs xD) or defensive( push em away when you're getting low health so you can get some range against the enemies)

All the others sound usefull but I can't be bothered with using them

I use shouts all the time. Have a Talos amulet that reduces recharge times too. Sweet!

Makes me interested to try a "pure dragonborn" class i.e. shouts as the primary way to deal with every situation

I try to be strategic with my shouts. Like using Whirlwind Sprint to close the gap to an enemy, or avoid on attack, or when i get bored. And using Unrelenting Force to stun Dragons, or knock away enemies, or when i get bored. Using Become Ethereal to give myself breathing room, or to close the gap on a powerful ranged enemy, or when i get bored. I have a keen strategic mind...that is easily bored...

Nice idea, but it would require 2 things imo:
1. Ability to switch between shouts through hotkeys (instead of dreadful: Magic > Shouts > Scroll through list > Activate shout)
2. Ability to stack multiple "reduce time between shouts" effects (or is that already possible?)

Dunno, maybe with some mods, this would be viable.

1) You can favorite Shouts, and if someone plays a pure dragon-born who focuses on one weapon combo, then shouts could be the only thing in the favorite menu.
2) Amulet of Talos and Blessing of Talos = 40% reduction

Okay... silly me. Somehow I never even thought about trying that, since I hardly use any shouts (see main post).

My current build is so dependent on magic that my favorite list is already too long. And my 8 hotkey slots are filled. Maybe in a next build I'm gone try a melee/dragonborn type of char, which would "force" me to use shouts more.

I never even remember they're there. They're completely superfluous to me.

The shouts aren't that impressive to me. I forget I even have them, that's how unimpressive they are.

I never used them until I got Throw Voice on my sneak archer.Now I wouldn't leave home without it.

"What was that. ."

*Thunk *

The others have been too gimicky/situational and don't suit my character or play style.

My Archer suddenly being able to belch fire or freeze people just seems to weird to me as opposed to using sound to distract or fool.

Might use the others more when I roll a Mage.