Has anyone managed to use Beast Form effectively? Because whenever I use it, I get completely and utterly pwned.

The only way I could survive in Beast form was to use the fear totem. So really I can only survive if I get to hit enemies, but enemies never hit me.

Let's just say i finished the Companions questline, cured myself, and went out looking for a Volkihar Vampire so I could feel like myself again.

I like to use it for assassinations. Very useful indeed.

Works excellent for me but the armor rating in beast form is based on light armor and i have 100 in that skill so it's probably that.

It's very useful for running long distances and running away.

I think I saw somewhere that they changed that in one of the patches.

I for one enjoy hunting if you plan ahead you can make it very effective. The most that I have taken on is 10 imperial's protecting the outside of a fort, the lord stone carries over into beast form giving you added defense, armor spells ( like ebony flesh ) will carry over as well when you cast them before changing. The " fear howl " ( the base power you have when transformed ) is very useful as well, it effects any and all that are Lv.30 and under which allows easy kills, for stronger prey I use a " hunting " tactic that I came up with along with the power swipe( put them on their back and keep them there ) Myself and a couple other wolves put our heads together and came up with some useful tips for " hunting " as a werewolf http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1369690-a-call-to-the-wolfpack/page__fromsearch__1.

If I drink a potion of alteration to make dragonskin last long term then I can use beast form effectively.

Unfortunately somewhere around lvl 40-50 it becomes pretty useless...

I'm at 30 right now with the lord stone and If I'm in the open wild and not a cramped dungeon I can run around and destroy enemies. The power attacks do massive damage. You just can't stand in one place and spam right trigger.

At level 81 beast form is still a powerhouse. As you said, you can't stand still. The entire mechanic is designed to be highly mobile over your adversaries. That's how you utilize it. If you're trying to tank with it...you're doing it wrong.

So it's like in Bloodmoon. You could kill anything in werewolf form with sufficient patience and skill.

Run, pounce, knock -em down, howl, feed, chase, pounce...

Works pretty well for me, but I have very limited experience with it.

Without my favorite werewolf mod beast form becomes useless.

I strongly recommend this mod, if you're a PC user that is http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=5866

And speed. You've got a full two minutes total in beast form before you're transformed back to your normal state. You can prolong it for 30 seconds each time you feed on a corpse, buuuut I wouldn't recommend doing that in the middle of a battle.

Speed and power are your primary weapons, and the judicial use of the fear power of your howl.

Edit: which is why I wish I had the PC version, so I could mod this god awful timer out of existance.

Pretty much, just don't stay in one spot for long.

Lv.81.5, on master difficulty and I have few issues while in beast form and the issues that I do have from time to time are mostly because I tried to tank it or got to aggressive and wasn't paing attention to what was happening.

If on PC, I would strongly recommend http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=12687. Not only does it re-balance the beast form buffs, but it also lets you infect a follower so you can both go out as werewolves (as well as a host of other things to make lycanthropy more like it should be).

The only way Beastform works for me is to have a lot invested in health. When you transform you lose any benefits equipted items have. I got killed almost every time... but now its the other way around.

I'll usually transform, let out a roar which scares most attackers save the "boss" of the area into running. I'll deal with them first and then take on all who ran off.

I was once running across the countryside in werewolf form and decided to attack a giant. I held my own until another giant, a mammoth and a dragon joined the fight. next thing I knew I was dead. haha

Same level and difficulty, but beastform is vastly different to my normal character. I do substantially less damage, and take so much more that I would have to RP being a werewolf as being something that cripples my character. Not to say it wasn't novel, but add in having to play in third person, and I just had to get the cure asap. Maybe if I'd gotten to the Companions questline at a lower level it would have been more fun.

I used it to kill morakei

I'm starting to get annoyed at people playing werewolves and then complaining that they're seriously weak because of that other thread.
I think I might break my vow to never play a werewolf just so I can do a master playthrough as a werewolf to shut you all up.

Light armor 100 and not trying to tank seems to be the key. It can't be that hard.

Werewolves don't benefit from Light Armor since a recent patch, as people have been saying. As far as the game is concerned, you're unarmored in beast form (which makes sense, since you're not wearing anything). Werewolves are supposed to have resistance to normal weapons, with only silver, daedric, or enchanted being in full effect, but that doesn't seem to be the case either.

I'd be interested if you could put up a video doing a werewolf-based play-through at Expert or Master difficulty at higher levels. If nothing else, if what you say is true and it is indeed playable, then it may at least give us tips on how to play as a werewolf and not die.

Yesterday while playing, I stumbled into a skirmish between four Forsworn, and three Imperial soldier while in beast form. In an instant, they all quit fighting each other and turned their attenrion to me.Let's just say that no one survived my sttack.

Level: 44
Health: 456 (with enchantments)
Stamina: 436 (with Namira's ring)
Light armor skill: 33

Playing on Adept. I'm too much of a wuss for anything more.

I play on Master difficulty and I almost never have a problem killing an NPC 1 on 1. Monsters are a bit more difficult as they don't tend to run away or get knocked down which are my primary methods in killing off NPCs.