There is an excellent thread today dealing with the one-handed skill and its weapons and perks; I learned a lot from that thread and I want to start one on blocking and its perks.

So which perks do you all think are worth taking and which not?

I wonder is the one that mitigates arrows worthwhile? So far I can rush them easy enough and even dodge a couple of arrows; so doesn’t seem worth taking. But I’m still at a low level and havent come up against any really dangerous archers.

How about power bashing?

Anyway, all opinions whatsoever welcomed

They are all good perks with a sheild, the arrow negating one is a bit meh as a lot of arrows get past. Sheild size is important with that one though, so it is realistic enough as not to dislike it.
The moving swiftly with sheild raised is a cracker if you like to stealth as you can tear about a dungeon in stealth mode with your shield up.
The power charge is great, especially for punting victims off cliffs or roofs etc.Or with high level enemies who are in groups, you can stun a few so you don't get overwhelmed or surrounded.
With Block maxxed out and all the perks I found using Spellbreaker that you could hold the sheild up as long as you liked while drinking coffee in the other hand, only ever needing to finish the enemy off when you decided it was time to engage. The only exceptions being those casting wall effect spells as that is the only thing that would make it past the Spellbreaker.
With Blocking maxxed out it lets you dictate the terms of combat and not just have to deal with it when it arrises.

Can you give a link to the one handed thread you said was real useful. The first base blocking perk gives you+20% taking additional only adds 5% each so I don't think its worth it to take those. I prefer just the left hand side of the tree all the way up to shield charge. Elemental resistance, block runner, and shield charge are all totally solid. THe only so so one on the left side is the arrow one because it only gives lackluster results. I experimented with the slow time one and the right side of the tree but didn't feel like they were all that useful.

I use the shield of Ysgramor and virtually no arrows get through unless I take a toe hit or a head shot, and coming from AI those hits are rare since they go for center mass. Liquid is right though if you're using a small shield and not a larger one then the arrow perk can become useless.

Power bash is quite useful if you're fighting 10+ Draugr deathlords, I ran full speed into Skuldafn at lvl 60+ and well that was a tough fight, the power bash does disarm a fair amount of the time. Even if it doesn't disarm it does put most combatants on their kness for 2 seconds so you can score some power attacks or what have you.

The movement perk is pretty much a must have to you can rush and bash spell slingers and archers, most of the time when I do rush and bash then strike I get a finishing move where they cry mercy and I kill them on their knees.

If you max enchanting you can craft a shield with 20% magic resistance and either 62 health increase or 40% more damage blocked, I usually go with 20% magic resistance and 40% more damage block on the dwarven shield since it's a colossus. You can become pretty much Impervious to melee damage and with a ring and necklace with 20% magic resist you can just shurg off magic attacks as well.

I find a very good combat approach is to use an unenchanted sword with elemental fury and the shield, with all three words of power it's pretty awesome, works amazingly well with a dagger too. If you use crit dagger you can get on the way to Falkreath from Markarth you become a crit machine for the duration of Elemental Fury.

I'm a big fan of the sword and shield in this since I lost my ever favorite Spear of Bitter Mercy with Oblivion and Skyrim. Hopefully in the next TES spear combat will come back.

Moving swiftly is invaluable to me - I wish I could have gotten it earlier with my light-armored character.

The problem I have with the Arrow-perk is that I too many get through when I try Timed blocking.

For some reason, though, blocking is really unresponsive on my X-box after I got the Block Runner perk.

Quick Reflexes seems to be a "Love it or hate it" deal - I love it because it increases my ability to mitigate damage by dodging or bashing - and when it bugs out and freezes time or fails to end when I lower my shield before the power attack lands, all the better! I once killed an entire room of enemies because two guys tried Power Attacking me with Warhammers at once.

If you're planning on using block and one handed i recommend you perk all the way in block. There are no useless perks in block actually. Go power bash all the way till shield charge. If you play on master like i do, deflect arrows can certainly help you. Although you can just strafe, dodge, whatever you name it... it's nice to run them down with your shield raised. Keep in mind some archers can really hurt you in master difficulty. The only perk i consider to be extremely overpowered and perhaps unnecessary is quick reflexes because well... then you become practically untouchable so long your shield is raised. If you want a more active, dynamic combat style i wouldn't recommend you this perk. Anything that slows time in Skyrim, bow and shout included can be slightly overpowered.

I use block tactics all the time, Spellbreaker was a god send cos those damn mages always would get me, but spellbreaker does exactly what it says on the tin. Archers that are higher up and aren't easily reachable are a problem, until fus ro dah haha.

Hmm interesting thread, very curious about the Block skill myself and will keep reading through all the posts so keep e'm coming
would love to read the one-handed thread you mentioned, might you share a link?

The best thing about blocking is that you can chain interrupt/power bash a lot of foes that can otherwise hurt you. Wizards and dragons particularly.

Talking of block, how many shields are there in game?
All I've seen so far is Spellbreaker, Banded Iron, Iron, Elven, Dwarven, Falmer, etc etc.

What I'm really asking is, is Spellbreaker the only unique shield? Cos most shields are pretty boring.

There are more unique shields in game

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1337472-sword-mace-or-axe-one-handed-weapon-perks/

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1337472-sword-mace-or-axe-one-handed-weapon-perks/

Ah thanks man! much appreciated.

I find the "Bash" side of the tree invaluable for Two-handed users, more than Shield users. I don't have time to "Block" because of how clunky two-handed weapons can be, but a well-placed Bash can give me an opening to kill.

This is true. Although i prefer to use my stamina for pure damage. Since i am not blocking at all with a two handed, i try to move around and dodge if i can.

True, you can completly take the piss out of Dragons and you just need to spam the Dragonrend shout to stop them getting away.

There are plenty good shields to get your hands on in game, I loved the Targe of The Blooded until I got my hands on Spellbreaker and Ysgramor is indeed outstanding for stopping arrows.

If you could mix all three of those together, then nothing could stop you and you wouldn't even need another weapon.

Evading Like a Tsaesci

I find arrow deflecting perk to be a bit useless, but perhaps because I'm using Banded Iron Shield. The Quick Reflexes is very awesome, though. You don't get to become Neo in so many games, and Shield Charge is great for sneaky characters (and to get near the enemy)

So I take it it's better to Shield Charge (rush) archers (and mgicians) rather than take arrow deflecting....makes sense to me....especially if not all arrows are deflected while blocking.

Huh? You lost me there

Well the thing is you will want elemental protection and block runner so either way you'll have to get deflect arrows

A bigger sheild helps but I always prioritise the ranged attackers if possible, maybe just stunning anyone in my way while trying to get them and deal with them afterwards.
You will find a good hit from a high level mage attack can stop you in your tracks but not quite stun though when using Spellbreaker, like it took all of your strenght and sheilds power to block it. I imagine a lesser sheild and the result would be worse for your character.

Ah! I see that now. Thanks

Yes; if I cant find cover in which to deal with melee mobs I head straight for the ranged mobs.

no it's not the unique one tho there aren't much more to go arround either